Lewis gave the most impressive effort so far by a pitcher in this JUCO World Series, pitching the Western Nevada College baseball team to a 9-2 win over Alabama’s Shelton State on Tuesday at Suplizio Field in another elimination game.

WNC is now 3-1 in the tournament and is one win away from advancing to the championship game. If the Wildcats win at 6;30 p.m. Thursday against an opponent to be determined, WNC will play in Saturday’s championship game.

Lewis pitched eight strong innings, becoming stronger as the game went on after throwing 4 1/3 innings in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to Howard College of Texas in 11 innings.

Lewis allowed six hits and recorded 17 of 24 outs by either stikeout (seven) or groundout (10). It was also the most impressive effort by a WNC pitcher since Cole Rohrbough was the winning pitcher in the Wildcats’ 2-0 win over New Orleans in their opener of the 2007 JUCO World Series.

“Oh yeah,” said Lewis when asked if he had pitched on two days rest – or less. “My 15-year-old

Babe Ruth team played regionals. I pitched in the game that got us into the finals and then I pitched in the finals – on the same night. It wasn’t the smartest decision by the coach, but it worked out.”

Even after throwing 107 pitches it looked like Lewis could have thrown a complete game. But Kyle Starratt needed some work and he came in and pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out one. “J-Lew pitched great,” WNC’s Daniel Zylstra said. “Just lights out.”

So with the exception of Lewis, everyone on WNC’s pitching staff will be available Thursday. That includes Starratt, Kramer Champlin and Josh Moody on two days rest after picking up the win on Monday against Middle Georgia, WNC coach D.J. Whittemore said. Whittemore listed David Carroll, who pitched six shutout innings in an 11-0 win over Iowa Western on Sunday, as the probable starter on Thursday.

And even though WNC collected 16 more hits on Tuesday and has now collected 58 hits in four straight days at the JUCO World Series, Whittemore wasn’t concerned about losing momentum with a day off.

Whittemore said he wasn’t concerned, saying the pitching staff needed a day off. “The bats will stay hot,” Whittemore said. The turning point of Tuesday’s game came in the eighth with WNC leading 3-2.

Zylstra drew a leadoff walk and then a balk was called on Shelton pitcher Brett Whitaker when WNC’s Eric Maupin appeared to have popped out on a 3-2 pitch. Shelton coach Bobby Sprowl came out to argue andthe balk call seemed to bother Whitaker. Maupin hit an RBI double on the next pitch and then Jay Skilton, who went 3-for-3, followed with an RBI single to make it 5-2.

In the ninth, Travis Feiner, who had four hits and now has 10 hits in the tournament, led off with a single. Jerome Pena then walked and Zylstra singled to load the bases with one out. Then WNC received a couple of breaks.

First, Maupin hit a check swing comebacker to Whitaker which should have been an inning-ending double play. But after Whitaker threw home for the out, catcher Carl Hanson overthrew first, allowing a run to score.

Skilton followed with an RBI double and then WNC received its second break when Lance Ray’s popup down the left field line landed for a double that gave the Wildcats a 9-2 lead.

WNC took a 2-0 lead in the second when Pena tripled and scored on Zylstra’s single. Skilton, WNC’s No. 9 hitter, received the green light on a 3-0 count and drilled an RBI double to the right centerfield fence to make it 2-0.

After Shelton tied the score 2-2, WNC took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when Zylstra doubled and Maupin hit an RBI single to make it 3-2. Feiner had a double among his four hits, Zylstra, Ray and Maupin all had two hits and Mike Long added a hit for WNC.