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Stephen Sauer struck out the side in the ninth inning with the bases loaded and no outs to give the Western Nevada Community College baseball team (35-22-2, 29-15 in conference) a dramatic 6-4 victory over No. 16 Community College of Southern Nevada Thursday in the Region XVIII Championship. WNCC will try for their fifth win in a row in the second game of the best of three series tonight at 6 p.m.

"I was drawing off my teammates' energy," Sauer said. "God gave me the strength to do it."

Catcher Taylor Mieras got the scoring started in the second inning smacking a two-run single. CCSN answered with two runs in the second and added a run in the fourth and another in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead. In the sixth, Pat Grennan made it a one-run game with an RBI sacrifice fly.

In the seventh, Logan Parsley then blasted a solo home run to left to tie it up. The Wildcats pulled ahead in the eighth when Brad Carlsen scored from third on a wild pitch. They added an insurance run in the ninth when Chad Walling scored from third on another wild pitch.

"I was extremely proud of our guys; they stuck together and never quit," Head Coach D.J. Whittemore said. "They played hard from the first pitch to the last pitch and that's how you win in the playoffs."

Dan Grubbs (1-1) was the winning pitcher after holding CCSN scoreless in 1.2 innings. Grubbs relieved starter Cole Rohrbough who pitched 6.1 innings, struck out six, and gave up four runs, three earned, on eight hits. Sauer picked up the save.

Thomas Miller had a single, a triple, a sacrifice and a walk. Carlsen added two doubles, Grennan had one, and Andrew Reid and Kyle Bondurant chipped in a single each.

The Wildcats are hoping to advance to the Western Regionals May 17-19.

Pat Grennan crosses the plate making it 2-0 in the second inning on Thursday.

Cole Rohrbough fires a pitch to the plate in Thursday's contest.

The Wildcats celebrate their victory after the first game of the Region 18 Championship.