Columnist Steve Guiremand: CCSN likes league of its own

Steve Guiremand

Friday, May 10, 2002 | 9:33 a.m.

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at steveg@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-2324.

Tim Chambers' Community College of Southern Nevada baseball squad has lost almost as many games this season (16) as it did its first two years combined (19).

No doubt a reason for that is the Coyotes are playing their first season in the competitive Scenic West Athletic Conference after spending the first two years as an independent. But despite the tough competition, Chambers wouldn't want it any other way.

"It's like night and day," Chambers said of conference play. "Your team gets battle tested on a weekly basis for seeding (in the SWAC Tourney). You're playing for something every week. ... It doesn't compare. Being in a conference and being an independent are really two different things."

For one thing, there's the travel. The Coyotes now find themselves visiting some of the real garden spots of the West, places such as Price, Utah, home of Eastern Utah College; and Rexburg, Idaho, home of Ricks College.

And the competition is a lot more intense. The nation's No. 1-rated junior college team, Dixie State College in St. George, Utah, is hosting the SWAC tourney this weekend.

"Compared to the first two years, there's really no difference the first two months of the season," Chambers said. "But when you roll into April and May, you're playing teams that are in your conference every weekend. As an independent, you play them in midweek and you aren't seeing their best pitching because they save that for conference play. The other teams really didn't come after us like they do now because they were more focused on their weekend games.

"That's the big difference. Now you're competing against teams each weekend that are competing for the same prize that you are. It's good experience for our kids, expecially our freshmen who will know now what to expect next year when they start conference play again."

Chambers said joining the SWAC also is a big plus for recruiting.

"Oh yeah, most definitely," he said. "We're now in one of the top conferences in the country. And that definitely helps when you're recruiting a player to your school."

Chambers' young squad, which includes 13 freshmen, more than held its own in its first year in the SWAC. The Coyotes were ranked as high as 20th nationally and were still in the hunt for the conference title until a four-game losing streak in the final two weeks dropped them to third place in the 11-team conference, five games behind the No. 1-rated Dixie Rebels.

That CCSN finished that high is a testament to the coaching ability of Chambers, the former Bishop Gorman coach who had a lot of support for the UNLV coaching job that eventually went to Jim Schlossnagle last year.

The Coyotes made a run at the conference title despite the fact their three top starting pitchers, including No. 1 starter Jino Gonzalez (labrum surgery), missed all or most of the season. And the team had to overcome a devastating boating accident to backup infielder Ruben Moreno on Lake Mead.

"We thought for a while there that we were going to lose him," Chambers said. "He crushed his face against the dashboard when the boat he was in hit a submerged rock or island or something. He's had to have his face reconstructed. We're just glad he made it."

And the folks in Henderson should be glad to have a head coach like Chambers at the helm. In just three short years, the Coyotes have made some major strides in the world of junior college baseball.