Surprising Silverado beats Basic, takes command in SE

Spencer Patterson

Friday, April 26, 2002 | 9:42 a.m.

Basic was the preseason favorite, Foothill the popular dark horse pick and Green Valley the defending state champion. But it's the Silverado Skyhawks who suddenly find themselves in control of the state's toughest division.

Silverado posted a dramatic 3-2 win over visiting Basic on Thursday to move into sole possession of first place in the Southeast and avenge its lone league loss of the year.

"Hopefully we can finish this thing out, but we've got two tough ballgames left," Skyhawks coach Brian Whitaker said. "Hopefully, playing with this kind of intensity will help us prepare for the regional tournament."

The seventh-ranked Skyhawks (19-10, 5-1) led 2-1 entering the seventh inning, but the No. 4 Wolves (19-9, 3-2) tied the score to extend the game. Brian Lake led off with a single. Pinch runner Tyler Stacy then moved to second on Leland Montoya's sacrifice bunt and scored on Zack Hammond's two-out single to left.

Hammond's RBI came off Silverado reliever Tyler Coon, but the left-hander didn't have to think about the run he had surrendered for long. In the bottom of the seventh, Coon drove home the game-winner with a single to left, scoring Ryan Raagas from second base.

"I kind of felt like it was my responsibility to get it back," said Coon, whose hit also made him the winning pitcher. "I got a chance to redeem myself."

Until the seventh, the game featured a pitching duel between Silverado's Anthony Vita and Basic's Micah Schnurstein. Vita scattered five hits over the first six innings, striking out two and walking one, while Schnurstein yielded just six hits in six innings, fanning five and walking two.

The Skyhawks scored two runs in the fifth off Schnurstein, one on Casey Coon's RBI triple and the second on a Raagas' single.

Raagas finished 3-for-3, reaching base in all four plate appearances, and Allan Miller added a pair of singles for the victors. Lake singled twice and scored both runs for the Wolves.

"This is big for us, probably our biggest win of the year," Tyler Coon said. "It gives us momentum going into the playoffs."