Silverado rolling into Sunrise tourney

Silverado’s baseball team was all but locked into its postseason seed before playing Liberty on Thursday.

But Kevin Pindel and the Skyhawks played like a team scratching for playoff position.

Pindel threw a five-hitter, and Silverado jumped on Liberty starter Ed O’Bannon for five runs in the first three innings en route to a 9-2 road victory. Silverado will be the No. 2 seed for next week’s Sunrise Region tournament.

“He’s been sharp,” Silverado coach Brian Whitaker said of Pindel. “He’s progressed nice, and he threw a good ballgame today.”

Pindel needed just 72 pitches to get through the game. He had faced one over the minimum through six innings before Liberty scored two runs in the seventh to end the shutout.

He finished with five strikeouts and no walks.

“He got a lot of quick outs, pitched really well,” Whitaker said. “He had all three pitches working and kept them off balance.”

Silverado (21-8, 17-3 Division I Sunrise League) staked Pindel to an early lead after some wildness from O’Bannon. He hit one batter in the second and two in the third, and all three scored.

O’Bannon hit Pindel with two outs in the second. James Skelly then turned on a fastball and lined a double into the left-field corner to score Justin DeLeon for a 1-0 lead.

O’Bannon hit two batters in the third, both with two strikes. He plunked leadoff batter Chase Cortez, and he came around to score after consecutive singles by Michael Camburn and Payton Ballard.

O’Bannon then hit Dax Fellows on an 0-2 pitch, and the Skyhawks added runs on a passed ball, an error and a wild pitch to take a 5-0 lead.

“We had a lot of two-strike counts and kind of got bailed out by some hit batters,” Whitaker said. “We got a couple timely hits. And when your pitcher’s throwing up smoke rings like that, it was hard for them to come back.”

Liberty relievers Zack Reed and Michael Wong shut down Silverado until the seventh, when the Skyhawks scored four runs to pull away. Camburn and Michael Janosik each had two-run singles in the inning.

All nine Silverado starters had at least one hit. Camburn and Fellows each went 2-for-3. The Skyhawks finished tied with Basic atop the Sunrise League, but Basic earned the top playoff seed because it swept Silverado.

“I don’t want to sound cliche or anything, but we are the kind of team where it’s going to be a different person (every day),” Whitaker said. “A couple guys have had big years, but everybody’s pitched in. It’s been fun.”

Omar Ortiz went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI for Liberty (20-11, 13-7).

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at 702-380-4587 or dseiters@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters