CCSN ready to take the field in baseball

Spencer Patterson

Thursday, Jan. 27, 2000 | 9:45 a.m.

The wait is almost over for the state's first junior college athletic program.

On Tuesday, the Community College of Southern Nevada will play its first official varsity game during a home doubleheader against Arizona's Scottsdale Community College.

And though the Coyotes played an 18-game schedule last fall, head coach Tim Chambers knows his team's upcoming 56-game schedule will present an entirely new challenge.

"(The fall) was real positive for the kids to build on, but this is a whole different thing," Chambers said Wednesday at his team's new Henderson-campus ballpark. "They have to understand that 56 ballgames is a long time, and they're not going to make or break anything on Feb. 1."

CCSN officially unveiled its roster at its first media day Wednesday, and to no one's surprise, the Coyotes will have a distinctly local flavor. Twenty-two of the squad's 28 players graduated from local high schools, including five from Green Valley, five from Bishop Gorman, four from Durango and three from Chaparral.

"We all had mutual respect for each other in high school, so guys are pretty excited to play together," said second baseman John DiBetta, a member of last year's Durango state title team.

Outfielder Nick Didier, a 1999 Gorman graduate, agrees. "Even in high school it was hate on the field and love off the field. We were always pretty close, especially to the Green Valley and Durango guys."

Joining the area grads will be six out-of-state players, including a pair of major league draftees -- first baseman John Perry from Colorado (Yankees) and pitcher Richard Gilbert from Montana (Rangers). Green Valley graduate John Slack, one of the team's co-captains, is the team's third draftee, having been selected by the Blue Jays last summer.

"The guys we've got all had offers from other schools at the Division I or junior college level, and when you bring in guys like that, they're quality high school baseball players," Chambers said. "So overall, we're pretty pleased."

Despite a schedule that features games with junior college powers from Arizona, Utah and California, among others, Chambers said he believes his club can compete right away and should be in line for a postseason berth come May.

"My personal goal is for us to win 35 ballgames, and I think we can do that," Chambers said.