HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : Hilltop Ace Rebounds, Beats Southwest

Hilltop Coach John Baumgarten didn’t have a doubt that his junior pitching sensation, Jose Silva, would rebound from his worst outing of the year--a 10-1 loss to Castle Park last Thursday in which Silva allowed six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings.

“He feels bad for about three minutes after something like that,” Baumgarten said.

So Baumgarten went with his ace Tuesday against Southwest, which entered the day tied with Hilltop and Montgomery for first place in the Metro League.

Silva made his coach look pretty good and Southwest hitters look pretty bad--striking out 12 and allowing just four hits in a 6-1 victory over the visiting Raiders.

With Hilltop’s victory and Montgomery’s 2-1 loss to Chula Vista, the Lancers are alone in first place with three games remaining.

Center fielder David Chapman provided all the offense Silva needed with three hits and two RBIs.

Silva, who entered the game with a 1.94 ERA, improved his record to 8-4 and raised his strikeout total to 96 in just 77 innings. He entered Tuesday one strikeout behind county leader Danny Miller of Poway.

“I was real pumped up for this after they beat me last time,” Silva said.

“The kid pitched a tremendous game,” Southwest Coach Tom Hernandez said. “I knew this game would come down to pitching and he was just better than our kid (sophomore Salvador Sanchez) today.”

Southwest (11-12, 8-3) scored its run in the third on an Adrian Garcia double and a single by Victor Caracoza. But as the game wore on, Silva’s velocity seemed to improve.

He didn’t allow a hit after the third inning and he struck out the side in the fourth and seventh.

“He just got tougher,” Baumgarten said. “He really turned it on when he got the lead.”

Hilltop (18-7, 9-2) took the lead in the third on a Jorge Munoz RBI double. Sanchez (5-3) kept his team in the game until the sixth when Hilltop erupted for four unearned runs.

Hilltop followed Southwest center fielder Carlos Sanchez’ error with five hits, two off reliever J.J. Wozniak.