Thursday, April 21, 2005 | 9:59 a.m.
CCSN in six years under coach Tim Chambers:
Year.....W-L-T
2005.....40-8
2004.....37-18-1
2003.....48-8*
2002.....42-17
2001.....52-9
2000.....47-10
Total 266-70-1.....(.791)
* - NJCAA national championship
Before it royally flushed its season away, the Community College of Southern Nevada baseball team caught itself during a salty road trip that started in Salt Lake City.
Now, the playing cards and poker chips stay on the bus.
On March 11, the Coyotes trailed 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Salt Lake Community College erupted for eight runs to smack CCSN with its first 10-run-rule defeat in the six-year history of the program.
Until then, coach Tim Chambers had been hit with 64 losses, none by the humiliating double-figure variety. In the 315th game of his team's history, he finally tasted that ignominy.
"We could have broken right there," Chambers said. "It could have destroyed us."
As the Coyotes trudged down the left-field line at Cate Field for their post-game huddle, fingers were pointed, barking escalated into scathing critiques and the sit-down exploded into a tough-love session worthy of reality television.
Mike Dunn and Chris Siewert provided the spark, according to one source. Who said what to whom, however, isn't as relevant as the fact that many players turned their lingering, if not festering, thoughts into words.
By all accounts, it galvanized a team that has forged a 40-8 record and is ranked third in the nation.
"Coach wasn't mad that we lost," Shawn Olsen said. "We were all mad at each other, and coach pretty much said we had to fix that. We had to quit doing all these things that (tick) each other off.
"Since then, we've all been way closer on and off the field. We all hang out more. We just kind of put it on the table. We all have big egos here, so we can't go about it different ways or we'll get into fights."
Sophomore pitcher Jesse Craig called the left-field meeting a reality check.
"There were definitely a lot of heads down," he said. "But it was more that everyone was in a state of shock. We are the ones who are supposed to be 10-running them ... what happened here?"
CCSN, which owns first place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference by two games ahead of Dixie State, plays its final regular-season home series this weekend with Friday and Saturday doubleheaders against College of Southern Idaho.
Next week, the Coyotes, who won the NJCAA national championship two years ago, finish at Dixie, which won last season's national title.
Then comes the two-week conference tournament, the Western District championship and the junior college World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., from May 28 to June 4.
The Salt Lake City session might have primed the Coyotes for another banner run.
"A couple of guys got in each others' faces, and we let everyone let out what they thought was wrong with the team," Dunn said. "Nobody likes to lose. That's when good teams come together. We got it all out so we could try to minimize the distractions, especially on the road."
Sophomore infielder Kyle Price said some of the exchanges were blatant.
"Not trying to start something ... no one took it personal," Price said. "Everyone took it to heart, thought about it and (said), 'Yeah, you're right.' It was good for us."
Poker was part of the problem. Over the past few years, seven-card stud has seeped into many segments of society, and assorted Coyotes have considered themselves the next Doyle Brunson or T.J. Cloutier.
One player said games were regularly going until midnight, another said 3 a.m.
"Having a good time on the road, trying to pass the time until the game," Siewert said. "It was bad, but we policed that and got our priorities in order. We got everything down. It's strict, but everyone follows it. We just cleared the air right there.
"We just got rid of the dirty laundry."
After that trip, the players restricted their card-playing to the bus.
Whatever else the Coyotes hemmed out between themselves, however, did not pay immediate dividends as they were belted, 8-0 and 3-0, the following Friday in Twin Falls, Idaho, against CSI.
Chambers looks more at the big picture, that CCSN rebounded the next day to take a doubleheader from CSI to split that series and that that airing-out session in Salt Lake City stabilized the team and the season.
"Chemistry is the No. 1 thing," Chambers said. "Right there, they started coming together as a team, they stopped bickering and complaining. Everyone got it out. It was like, 'Let's pull together.'
"If they were going to let that bad spell tear the chemistry apart, they would have had nothing. While they were going through it, all they could do is believe in each other, stick together as a family, to overcome it. I think we did."
On CCSN's next two trips, it swept back-to-back doubleheaders, against both College of Eastern Utah and Colorado Northwestern Community College, by a combined score of 59-12.
"We wouldn't get our rest, wouldn't be in our rooms when we were supposed to," Dunn said of the poker group. "There's been a huge turnaround. Since then, everyone is real motivated to play. There are no more distractions in the hotel rooms.
"We get our rest for the games."
Obviously, the Salt Lake City derailment was not all about poker.
As Chambers predicted before the season, this is one of his deepest teams. He hasn't started the same lineup in consecutive games, or thrown the same starting rotation in back-to-back weekends, all year.
"Some guys didn't know their roles," Olsen said. "Say a guy would go 0-for-3. Someone else might say, 'I should have been in there.' Now, everyone knows their roles.
"Thing is, we have a great freshman class, and some older guys (were) sitting out and wondering why they weren't in there. But sophomores aren't the ones who win, it's players. Everyone came to terms with that. That's what we talked about, knowing your role."
Before that trip to Colorado Northwest, in Rangely, Colo., Chambers called for a team vote to take a one-hour detour to Grand Junction, to see the field where the program accomplished its biggest feat in 2003.
That season, Chambers and the Coyotes took that detour during the season. They did it again last year, then fell apart to Dixie in the league tournament.
Chambers told his players two weeks ago that he didn't want to see Suplizio Field, that they should only visit the Grand Junction yard by advancing through the playoffs.
"If you want to see Grand Junction," Chambers said, "earn it."
By unanimous vote, the Coyotes agreed.
"I think we're going to win it all," Olsen said. "I think we'll roll into Dixie with a three-game lead on them, so I'm not too worried about it."
None of Olsen's teammates have seemed too worried, either, since they all walked out of left field in Salt Lake City last month in the same direction.
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