Western Nevada College

Carson City Animal Services received a makeover on Saturday thanks to more than two dozen volunteers.

Through the Carson City Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class 2010, this top dog group put up fences, pounded nails and laid down coats of paint, sprucing up the Butti Way animal shelter.

With 17 Leadership Carson City class members present and student volunteers from Western Nevada College, the overhaul is designed to revamp the adoption area by adding new fences, outdoor furniture and dog-friendly shelters.

The final games of pool were being played today at Doppelgangers Brewery and Tap Room in Carson City, with the winners being Carson City community organizations.

Whether they plan to enter the work force or continue on with their education, the 451 Western Nevada College graduates walked away Monday and Tuesday with one certainty: It's up to them to use their education to push ahead in one of the most trying economic times in Nevada's history.

With the state's 13.7 percent unemployment rate for April, it may be "tough out there" to find a job, but the education the graduates earned at WNC is top-notch and will take them far if they apply themselves and are patient, College President Carol Lucey told the class Tuesday night.

RENO _ Most players go a lifetime without hitting 6-for-6. For former Western Nevada College baseball star Brian Barnett, "a while," when it comes to the last time he has gone 6-for-6 was a little more than a year.
Barnett had his second straight game in which he went 3-for-3 as he helped the University of Nevada baseball team (31-19-1) come back for an 8-6 win over UC Davis on Tuesday at Peccole Park. Barnett's 14th home run of the season gave the Wolf Pack that 8-6 lead in the seventh inning.

RENO -- Most players go a lifetime without hitting 6-for-6. For former Western Nevada College baseball star Brian Barnett, "a while," when it comes to the last time he has gone 6-for-6 was a little more than a year.
Barnett had his second straight game in which he went 3-for-3 as he helped the University of Nevada baseball team (31-19-1) come back for an 8-6 win over UC Davis on Tuesday at Peccole Park. Barnett's 14th home run of the season gave the Wolf Pack that 8-6 lead in the seventh inning.

A candidates forum, hosted by the Carson City Arts and Culture Coalition, will be held tonight from 7 to 9 p.m., in the Sierra Room of the Carson City Community Center. Carson Now will have live coverage.
The forum is free and open to the public.

Former Western Nevada College star Brian Barnett had his best day so far with the University of Nevada baseball team as the Wolf Pack rolled to an 11-0 win at Sacramento State on Sunday.

The Western Nevada College baseball team pounded out nine hits and held 17-year-old phenom Bryce Harper to a 1-for-5 day and struck him out three times.
So that led to another win over College of Southern Nevada, right? Not even close. CSN showed why its arguably the best team in the nation -- and possibly the deepest -- by beating WNC 9-2 on Saturday in the championship round of the Scenic West Athletic Conference postseason tournament in Henderson.

Former Western Nevada College star Lance Ray is doing everything he can to help the University of Kentucky baseball team make the postseason.

Despite taking an early lead, the Western Nevada College softball team was unable to hang on as it dropped a 6-3 decision to Snow College in an elimination game at the Region 18 Tournament on Friday morning in Salt Lake City.

College of Southern Nevada scored four runs in the first two innings and went on to a 5-1 opening round victory against Western Nevada College in the Region 18 Softball Tournament on Thursday afternoon in Salt Lake City.

Everything is magnified in the postseason. Every left baserunner. Every error. So what could be considered just another loss in the regular season that really wasn't that bad of an effort, isn't so in the postseason.
 
Or as Western Nevada College baseball coach D.J.

Western Nevada College and College of Southern Nevada will get together to revive their instate rivalry in the opening round of the Scenic West Athletic Conference playoffs on Thursday in a game scheduled to start at noon (MST) in Salt Lake City.

"Athlete-speak" calls for all players to shrug off so-called snubs. But athletes are human beings, too, and the Western Nevada College baseball team may have some extra motivation going into Thursday's game against Salt Lake Community College.

Former Western Nevada College star Lance Ray continued his red hot streak with the best game of his young career so far at the University of Kentucky on Tuesday.
 
Ray hit two home runs, but it wasn't enough for the Wildcats in a nonconference game at Indiana as Kentucky lost to the Hoosiers in Bloomington, Ind., 18-17 in 10 innings. Ray helped Kentucky build a 16-8 lead going into the bottom of the eighth inning, but Kentucky couldn't hold on.

While the Western Nevada College baseball team, Salt Lake Community College and College of Southern Idaho have all had their moments this year, WNC baseball coach D.J. Whittemore said College of Southern Nevada is still unquestionably the class of the Scenic West Athletic Conference.
"They know they're going to win," said Whittemore about CSN being the favorite in this week's SWAC postseason tournament. "Everyone else thinks they're going to win."

RENO -- It's the nature of baseball. Former Western Nevada College star Brian Barnett and Carson City's Jesse Rasner played well enough for the University of Nevada baseball team, but in the end it wasn't good enough.
 
For both Barnett and Rasner, each were pondering one at-bat that left them thinking about what could have been. And the end result was a 6-4 win in 12 innings for San Jose State against Nevada on Sunday at Peccole Park. The Spartans avoided the four-game sweep after the Wolf Pack won the first three games of the series.

A pennant race is a pennant race no matter if it's for first or second place.
 
And for the Western Nevada College baseball team, the race for second place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference went down to the wire. College of Southern Nevada was finally helping out the Wildcats after losing the first three games of its series at Salt Lake Community College.

To hear Jordan Lewis talk about it, fellow pitcher David Carroll was the main target of the University of Houston. But Western Nevada College baseball coach D.J. Whittemore said Houston wanted Lewis all along.
 
It all worked out in the end as Carroll signed with Maryland and Lewis recently signed with Houston. "They originally came here scouting Carroll," said Lewis about Houston. "They just started to kind of notice me."

The Western Nevada College baseball team took care of business on Friday.

Former Western Nevada College star Brian Barnett continues to stay on his hot hitting pace in Western Athletic Conference play for the University of Nevada baseball team.

Kyle Conwell was happy to be reunited with his Western Nevada College baseball "family" this week. The feeling was certainly mutual on Friday afternoon when the Wildcats came together to bang out 29 hits while sweeping Colorado Northwestern Community College 11-2 and 15-1 during a Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader at John L. Harvey Field.

For a team that's been struggling, this went about as well as could be.
The Western Nevada College baseball team rolled to a 10-2 win over the Reno Astros semipro team on Tuesday at John L. Harvey Field. The Wildcats were able to schedule the game to make up for a rained out game early in the season and the contest couldn't have come at a better time for a club that has lost six of its last games.

Coral Academy of Science Charter School representatives and parents will be in Carson City on Wednesday, May 12, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. at Western Nevada College in Marlette Hall to discuss the possibility of bringing Coral Academy to Carson City.

Former Western Nevada College star Brian Barnett and Carson City's Jesse Rasner played key roles in helping the University of Nevada baseball team salvage a split of a four-game series at the University of Hawaii on Sunday.

It's a no-brainer. Drudge through another intrasquad scrimmage or play one of Northern Nevada's top baseball teams.
With one of its games rained out early in the season, the Western Nevada College baseball team has always had one contest it could make up and when the chance came to play the Reno Astros semipro baseball team, the Wildcats jumped at the chance.
 
WNC will host the Astros at 3 p.m. Tuesday at John L. Harvey Field. The game will help the Wildcats prepare for a crucial series against Colorado Northwestern Community College.

The thrilling four-game sweep of College of Southern Nevada to put the Western Nevada College baseball team in first place seems like an eternity ago.
 
Since that series, the Wildcats have lost six of eight games, with the slump continuing on Sunday when WNC was swept in a doubleheader at Salt Lake Community College. Salt Lake won the opener 3-2 in nine innings and the nightcap 5-1. The four-run loss was the largest margin of defeat this season for the Wildcats.

A chance at winning the Scenic West Athletic Conference regular season title seems to be slipping away, but Western Nevada College baseball coach D.J. Whittemore isn't giving up hope, yet.
 
"It's not over until it's over," said Whittemore about his team split of a doubleheader at Salt Lake Community College on Saturday. "Stranger things have happened."

While the Western Nevada College softball team couldn't pull off another upset against one of the nation's top teams, the Wildcats came away from this weekend's series against College of Southern Idaho knowing it could compete with one of the Scenic West Athletic Conference's elite clubs.

CSI swept a doubleheader against WNC on Saturday in Twin Falls, Idaho, winning the opener 6-3 and the nightcap 14-7. WNC was tied with CSI 3-3 going into the bottom of the fifth inning in the opener and led 7-5 in the nightcap.

It's been a long time in coming for the Western Nevada College softball program and a marquee win on Friday demonstrated how far the Wildcats have come.

WNC picked up the biggest win in the program's two-year history with a 6-5 victory at College of Southern Idaho in the second game of a doubleheader in Twin Falls, Idaho. CSI won the opener 8-0.