BROOMFIELD — Does really enjoy pitching from the stretch that much?
“Yeah, I do,” the senior joked Thursday after constantly working out of trouble in ‘s key at .
The Raptors (6-2 overall, 4-1 in the Northern League), ranked No. 9 in The Denver Post/9News Class 4A poll, weathered every attempted move by the sixth-ranked Eagles (4-3, 2-2), and even survived a leadoff homer by Broomfield’s Jake Klauck, to stay near the top of the league.
It wasn’t until the seventh inning that Van Dyke (2-1), who went the distance, was able to prevent any baserunners. But his defense was error-free, stellar and clutch in turning two double plays, one after an Eagle was caught between home and third base off a grounder, and regularly ate groundballs.
“That was a big part of it,” said Van Dyke, a right-hander. “They got their first runners on base pretty much every inning.”
Van Dyke stranded six runners and gave up seven hits, but did enough to keep the Eagles at bay until the Raptors’ bats came alive.
After Van Dyke worked out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the fifth, Silver Creek’s Teagan Kramer and Greg Reynolds each ripped two-run doubles with two outs against Broomfield starter and loser Erik Lockwood.
Van Dyke then faced the minimum six batters over the final two innings despite a leadoff triple in the sixth by the Eagles’ Noah Coleman.
“Defense was the thing,” Raptors coach Trevor Platt said. “(Eric) was just a pitch away from getting out of the innings and he made them.”
In the midst of a demanding stretch in the Northern, 4A’s AL East, Silver Creek is seeking rhythm and continuity — the Raptors have no gimme games, but hope to use the competition to prepare for the postseason.
“The defense has to keep stepping up,” Platt said.
Broomfield coach Garren Estes is getting confounded.
“We had our chances,” he said, adding his team’s mistakes are ones “you can’t make in the Northern.”
Silver Creek 000 014 0 — 5
Broomfield 100 000 x — 1
Silver Creek — Villoni cf 4-0-1-0, Van Dyke p 3-0-0-0, Hoyt dh 4-1-3-0, Apodaca c 0-0-0-0, Poulsen 3b 3-1-1-0, Dow rf 3-0-0-0, Kramer lf 3-2-2-2, Steward ss 1-1-0-0, Reynolds 2b 3-0-2-3, Scram 3-0-0-0. Totals 27-5-9-5.
Broomfield — Klauck ss 2-1-1-1, Guebelle cf 3-0-1-0, E. Lockwood p-rf 3-0-0-0, Coleman rf-p 3-0-2-0, Fukishima cr 0-0-0-0, Clark 1b 3-0-1-0, McClaskey 2b 3-0-1-0, Leonard c 3-0-0-0, Lane lf 2-0-0-0, Halliday ph 1-0-0-0, J. Lockwood 3b 2-0-1-0. Totals 25-1-7-1.
E — J. Lockwood. DP — Silver Creek 2, Broomfield. LOB — Silver Creek 5, Broomfield 6. SAC — Van Dyke. 2B — Hoyt 2, Kramer 2, Reynolds. 3B — Coleman. HR — Klauck, solo in first.
Batteries — Van Dyke and Apodaca; E. Lockwood, Coleman (6) and Leonard. W — Van Dyke (2-1). L — E. Lockwood (1-2). T — 1:46.
Neil H. Devlin: 303-954-1714 or ndevlin@denverpost.com
