Skyhawks provide the power for Van

Spencer Patterson

Wednesday, April 12, 2000 | 10:24 a.m.

With ace Robbie Van on the mound, the Silverado baseball team took the field against visiting Basic with a single goal on Tuesday -- give its top pitcher some run support.

Though the No. 3 Skyhawks came into the game with a sparkling 14-2 overall record, their two losses came at the expense of the senior left-hander. In those defeats, the high-powered Silverado offense managed just seven combined runs.

"For some reason, we don't seem to score runs for Robbie," shortstop Ryan Ruiz said. "It's been frustrating for us. It seems like when he's on the bump, we can't seem to get things going in the right direction."

So on Tuesday, the Skyhawks went out and got their ace all the support he would need in the very first inning. With help from Basic pitcher Jesse Craig, who plunked three batters in the inning, the hosts scored six runs and rolled to a 9-1 victory.

"It's nice to jump out to a lead like that," Silverado coach Brian Whitaker said. "We knew coming in they were a good team and had a good pitcher going. We were excited today and wanted to play."

The Skyhawks (15-2, 3-1) pulled even with Basic (15-2, 3-1) atop the Southeast Division standings at the halfway point in the conference season. Green Valley and Chaparral are one game back.

"It's like a dog chasing its tail," Whitaker said. "Everybody has knocked each other off, and that's kind of what I expected."

The game opened ominously for the Wolves, as Craig hit Silverado leadoff hitter Mike Eshragh, setting the tone of the rest of the inning. Joe Wickman followed with a single and Ryan Ruiz doubled to bring home the contest's first run.

Craig went on to hit Jeremy West and James Wickman, and those mistakes were compounded when Basic shortstop Mark Rose committed both fielding and throwing errors on an Eric Nielsen ground ball that appeared tailor-made for a double play. Back-to-back singles by Tyler Coon and Bobby Morvay made the score 6-0.

Van, a UNLV signee, limited the Wolves to a lone base hit for the first six innings before running into a bit of trouble. He finished with a three-hitter and struck out four batters.