Friday, May 16, 2003 | 9:02 a.m.
CHANDLER, Ariz. -- Backed by enough pitching and offense to overcome its defensive errors, the CCSN baseball team put itself one step closer to the NJCAA Division I World Series Thursday with a 10-7 victory against host Chandler-Gilbert Community College.
Southern Nevada can capture the NJCAA Southwest District championship today with a win in Game 2 of the best-of-three series. The Coyotes will throw ace pitcher Jabe Beard (11-0) against Chandler-Gilbert's Sean Clark (7-4).
The ninth-ranked Coyotes (49-8) jumped to a seven-run lead after 6 1/2 innings Thursday behind the left arm of Jino Gonzalez and the bats of Josh Brady and C.J. Ebarb.
Gonzalez (7-1) struck out six of the first nine batters he faced and eight overall, while allowing just two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings to earn the victory.
"I felt great. I got into a rhythm and went from there," Gonzalez said. "The key was getting ahead of the hitters, working from the front instead of the back."
Brady was 3 for 3 with a home run and two singles, three RBIs and scored four runs. He was on base five times.
Ebarb, a freshman catcher, put CCSN ahead 2-0 in the second inning with his first home run of the season. He was 3 for 5 with two RBIs and a stolen base.
"We kept the pressure on offensively and that helped a lot," CCSN coach Tim Chambers said. "We scored in all but two innings."
The performances of Gonzalez and Matt Minor, who recorded the final seven outs for his sixth save, and the offense overcame CCSN's playoff-record six errors, which included four consecutive booted balls in the sixth.
"We have to play better defense," Chamber said. "They are too good a team to have that happen again (today)."
Chandler-Gilbert coach Doyal Wilson gave credit to Gonzalez for keeping the Coyotes in control, but also said it was an adjustment using aluminum bats for the first time this season.
"(Gonzalez) threw a great game ... we had a scouting report and he pretty much stuck to it, but he was deceptive," Wilson said.
If Chandler-Gilbert wins today, the deciding game will be Saturday at noon.
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