Coyotes get sweet revenge against Southern Idaho

Wednesday, May 2, 2007 | 7:17 a.m.

Double elimination

at Morse Stadium, Henderson

Thursday

Game 1, Eastern Utah vs. Salt Lake, 2 p.m.

Game 2, Game 1 winner vs. CCSN, 6 p.m.

Friday

Game 3, Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 2 p.m.

Game 4, Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner, 6 p.m.

Saturday

(if necessary)

Game 5, Game 4 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 1 p.m.

The moment the ball fell behind the right-field wall at Morse Stadium late Saturday afternoon, the Community College of Southern Nevada baseball team exploded off its bench.

Tyson Mehlhoff's grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning gave CCSN a 16-6 win, via the 10-run rule, over College of Southern Idaho.

As J.C. Leach drew a walk, Mehlhoff, in the on-deck circle, thought about the chance to end the game with his first homer of the season.

"That crossed my mind," says Mehlhoff, a freshman outfielder from Pleasant Grove, Utah. "I was waiting for that pitch, and he gave it to me."

CCSN (39-16, 29-11) took three of four games from Southern Idaho (40-15, 28-12) in the series, capturing the Scenic West Athletic Conference regular season title and gaining home-field advantage throughout the league playoffs, which begin Thursday.

CCSN and Southern Idaho each host first-round brackets. If they win those, they'll meet at Morse next week in a best-of-three series to decide who advances to the district playoffs in Arizona.

The NJCAA World Series, which the Coyotes won in 2003, starts in Grand Junction, Colo., on May 26.

"We'll validate the program if we can get back there and have an opportunity to win another one," CCSN coach Tim Chambers says. "From a coach's standpoint, anything less than a national championship is a disappointment."

The slam, 10-run victory and three wins over Southern Idaho, though,were especially sweet for a CCSN team that had been swept in four games in Twin Falls in March.

"It felt good to 10-run-rule them," sophomore Chase Leavitt says. "With the kind of players and coaches and program we have, we shouldn't ever get swept by anyone."

Leavitt smacked a one-out triple in the fifth of Saturday's first game, then scored to tie it, 1-1, and fuel CCSN's eventual 2-1 victory.

In the second game, he had two singles and two walks, stealing a base, knocking in a run and scoring three times. The lead-off hitter owns a team-best .341 batting average.

Leavitt, a natural middle infielder from Snow Canyon, Utah, was moved to center five weeks ago to cover for an injured outfielder.

"I feel like it's my job to be a leader," Leavitt says. "A lot of players expect me to (lead), and I'm fine with that."

Chambers had planned to start ace reliever Tyler Lavigne in Saturday's first game, but Lavigne was pressed into action in Friday's first game. He won. The Coyotes lost the second game.

Lavigne wound up winning Saturday's first game in relief, too, to improve to 8-2. He has an earned-run average of 0.61.

"Things happen," he says. "You have to do whatever it takes to win a game. I don't care, as long as I can help the team win. Right now, this is the best feeling I've had in a while.

"I'm speechless."

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