Saturday, May 6, 2006 | 7:45 a.m.
Cameron Johnson and Craig Heyer said nobody on the Community College of Southern Nevada baseball team felt lower than they did six weeks ago because they were responsible for the Coyotes forfeiting 37 games.
So when CCSN (13-43, 11-29 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference) clinched a spot in the league playoffs by sweeping a four-game series at Colorado Northwestern last weekend, nobody felt better than Johnson and Heyer.
"Hopefully, we take it to the (National Junior College Athletic Association) World Series, get a few victories and maybe take it all," said Heyer, a sophomore pitcher from Scottsdale, Ariz., speaking about the incident for the first time this week. "It would be a great story."
Johnson, a sophomore outfielder from Las Vegas High School, wanted to clarify one point.
"I just hope people aren't looking at me and Craig like we're bad students," Johnson said. "We're both A-B students, doing well in the classroom. It was just a bad situation."
In a random audit, the NJCAA penalized CCSN, which started the season 27-10, because Heyer and Johnson were enrolled in classes that did not begin until after the start of the semester. The 37 games were forfeited.
Dixie State coach Mike Littlewood said it's common in junior college for classes to begin after the start of a semester and that the NJCAA could find many programs guilty of that violation.
"The team didn't look down on us at all," Heyer said. "It wasn't an academic adviser's or (coach Tim) Chambers' or anyone's fault. It's just something that happened. We were ineligible, and we didn't know it.
"We were lucky to get our season back and to make it to the playoffs."
Heyer and Johnson said they were shocked when they learned of the ruling.
"It kind of shocked everybody," Johnson said. "At the same time, right now, we've made it to the playoffs and everyone is stoked ... just a weight lifted off our shoulders that we finally made it after six weeks of not being sure."
After six consecutive weeks on the road, Chambers gave his players Monday and Tuesday off. He threw a barbecue and swimming party for them at his Summerlin home Tuesday afternoon.
"It was pretty solemn on that bus, to and from the cities, the last six weeks," Chambers said. "Last weekend, they had some fun on the way home. I think a lot of teams would have folded, feeling sorry for themselves."
CCSN is the only team in the seven-member SWAC with a bye this weekend, the last of the regular season. Seventh-place Colorado Northwestern (11-39, 6-28) can't catch the Coyotes for the last playoff spot.
Western Nevada (33-15, 27-9), College of Southern Idaho (36-14, 25-9) and Dixie State (31-11, 25-10) are jousting for the top spot in the Region 18 playoffs, which start Wednesday at a site that will be determined this weekend.
CCSN will play host to the Western District championships, which start May 18. The NJCAA World Series begins May 27 in Grand Junction, Colo. CCSN won the World Series championship in 2003.
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