Silverado baseball rips short-handed Wildcats

Early-season baseball games are as much about learning as they are about wins and losses.

Tuesday's game between Silverado and Las Vegas High was a learning opportunity for both clubs.

Las Vegas, which had eight players suspended for what coach Sam Thomas termed a violation of team rules, learned a little about itself and about the consequences for one's actions.

The Skyhawks took advantage of an early lopsided score to get game experience on the way to a 17-5 road win.

Silverado sent 18 batters to the plate in the top of the second and scored 13 runs as the game got out of control early.

"The main thing when it's like that is everything's got to be quality: quality at-bats, baserunning and just trying to stay sharp and work on things all the time," Silverado coach Brian Whitaker said. "That's what the preseason's for anyway."

Las Vegas starter Ryan Ashworth ran into control problems in the second inning, walking five of the first six batters he faced in the inning before giving up a two-run single to Trevor Johnson and a two-run double to Marty Sifuentes.

With the Wildcats' bench depleted because of the suspensions, they tried to let Ashworth work through the inning. But he never found the zone, walking seven in the inning and throwing four wild pitches before being lifted with one out.

Of Ashworth's 53 pitches in the second inning, just 10 were strikes.

Silverado did jump on pitches in the strike zone, however, with Michael Meyers adding a three-run homer and Nick Kawano and Mark Janosik hitting run-scoring singles in the inning.

"When they got something good to hit at we took some good swings," Whitaker said. "We've been having some success early on so far in the season, so that's a real positive for us."

Thomas said his team hopes to make Thursday's tough situation into a positive one. He said the suspensions were for one game.

"They know that there's rules and rules have to be followed," said Thomas, who declined to comment on the specific violations. "Honestly, I think this whole situation is going to bring us together more as a team."

Meyers went 2-for-2 with three runs and three RBIs, Sifuentes was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, and Wyatt Reid went 2-for-4 with a double, three runs and an RBI for Silverado.

Dustin Cash was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Dillon Dove went 2-for-3 with one RBI for Las Vegas.

"We saw some underclassmen that we think are going to help us now," Thomas said. "Now we see that we are not going to hesitate to put them in a game in certain situations."

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587.