Coyotes hoping to take league by storm, but on road this year

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, May 11, 2004 | 9:03 a.m.

Many of the Community College of Southern Nevada's baseball faithful made the two-hour drive to St. George, Utah, last weekend, hoping to see the Coyotes clinch home-field advantage for this week's Scenic West Conference baseball tournament.

CCSN needed to win two of the four games against Dixie State College to earn home-field advantage and the right to host the tournament at Henderson's Lied Field.

Instead, CCSN wound up tying the Rebels in the Scenic West standings, with Dixie State holding the tiebreaker -- meaning those same faithful will be back in St. George this week as the Coyotes start the postseason with hopes of having the same result as last year -- winning the junior college national championship.

And despite losing three of four to Dixie State, ranked sixth in the country by the National Junior College Athletic Association, CCSN coach Tim Chambers said he's optimistic about his team's postseason chances.

"Last year, we lost three of our last four games at Utah Valley and ended up going (to the championship)," he said. "This year, we're looking to do the same thing."

But this year, CCSN had trouble out of the gate, going 2-4 with one tie through its first seven games.

"I'm not sure anything went wrong; we just lost some very talented kids off that team last year," Chambers said about his team's rough start. "We were just trying to feel our way through it more than anything; some guys that were hitting seven, eight, or nine last year are now hitting two or three or four."

Turnover hit the Coyotes especially hard. Not only did they lose a number of players to the pros and four-year colleges, but the loss put added pressure on those hitters who got bumped up in the batting order. It also made recruiting difficult for Chambers, who didn't want to over-recruit and offer scholarships when they might be not be available but couldn't risk under-recruiting and leaving roster spots empty.

On top of that, outfielder Calvin Beamon, who in the preseason was ranked as the top junior college prospect in America, has had a trying year, batting only .285 in 2004.

"It hasn't been a great year for Cal," Chambers said. "I think he was one of those guys that put a little too much pressure on himself to do things that were expected of him this year ... he really hasn't done what we all thought he should do or what he thinks he's capable of doing."

Picking up the load for the Coyotes has been pitcher-outfielder Jordan Parraz, a freshman from Green Valley High School. Parraz leads the Scenic West with a .381 batting average, on top of a 4-2 record in 10 starts and a .941 fielding percentage.

Leading the CCSN rotation this year is Larry Ellenbrook, who is 10-2 with a 2.05 ERA.

"We didn't know if he'd be in rotation, and he ends up being most winning pitcher on the year," Chambers said.

Now, Chambers and the Coyotes travel back to Utah's Dixie, with the threat of another game against Dixie State looming right behind their opening-round game, which will be against the winner of the Southern Idaho and Colorado Northwestern game in the opening round.

CCSN is 5-3 against Southern Idaho, and 7-1 versus Colorado Northwestern.

"We're not focusing on (Dixie State) right now, we're focusing on whoever we play in the first game, and try to win that game," he said. "We beat Dixie State three times this year, too. ... The way our conference is set up, with wood bats and seven-inning games, anything could happen. They lost 11 games in conference too, so they're beatable."

The Coyotes' first game, against the opening-round winner, will be 6 p.m. at Bruce Hurst Field in St. George.