Tuesday, May 20, 2003 | 9:59 a.m.
The Van household in Henderson is where the four friends most often gathered, as much for the always-stocked refrigerator as for the swimming pool out back.
Mike Van came home from work one day to find his son Robbie, James and Joe Wickman, and Eric Nielsen all drooling like teen-age vultures at the wide fridge with the two open doors.
"Order pizza!" Mike yelled to his wife, Diana. "It's cheaper!"
Nielsen stood out from the group.
"He was about 50 pounds heavier than he is now," said Joe Wickman. "A little, fat kid."
Back in those Little League days, Nielsen ended up making a pivotal diving catch in right field to propel Las Vegas Legacy to the State tournament up in Hawthorne, just south of Walker Lake.
These days, even Nielsen pokes fun at himself.
"Oh, man. I was short and stocky," he said. "They had to special-order me pants and hem them in the back, 'cause I was so chunky. I guess I kind of grew out of that. I just remember having a great time, playing baseball and not worrying about anything else."
Nine years later, Nielsen is a 6-foot, 210-pound sophomore outfielder who is part of a honed group of home-grown talent that hopes its vast winning experience rubs off on UNLV in the coming weeks.
Nielsen, Van and the Wickmans helped Legacy, with Mike Van as its coach, win the State Little League title in 1994, then those four played key roles in Silverado High's run to a 4A State championship in 2000.
The Rebels (41-15) begin the Mountain West Conference tournament Wednesday in Albuquerque against Air Force, and the program's second trip to the NCAA tournament in 14 years seems secure with its No. 18 ranking.
To the quartet that resembles quadruplets to many who encounter it, that is not enough. Advancing to a Super Regional won't suffice, either.
The Wickmans, Nielsen and Van mirror Jim Schlossnagle's desire to be the first coach to take UNLV to Omaha, Neb., and the College World Series.
"When we first came here, there was always pride about local players being good enough to play here," said James Wickman. "Back in the day, though, no one thought about local players."
Robbie Van watched the exodus in his youth.
"The higher-profile players, they'd all go play somewhere else," Van said.
"And we don't feel like we have to prove anything, anymore," said James Wickman. "It's pretty much been proven that good players come out of Vegas, all the time."
Rebels infielder Ryan Ruiz joined a loaded team, which included The Quartet, at Silverado. Tommy Rojas, a catcher, is on the New York Yankees' Single-A roster in Battle Creek, Mich. Jeremy West, another catcher, is in his junior season at Arizona State.
In 1997 and '98, the Wickmans, Nielsen, Ruiz and Van had developed a ritual in which they would all feast on Italian dinners, prepared by a grandmother of Van's who hailed from the old country, before big games.
Salad, garlic bread and baked mostaccioli was the good-luck fare.
"They're like termites," said Mike Van.
By the time Silverado battled for that state title, Robbie's grandmother regularly served a party of 16 starving baseball players.
"As a parent, it's important to look at the friends your children have," said Mike Van. "And I can't say enough about these guys."
The Wickmans and Robbie Van currently rent a condominium on Pecos Road in Henderson, while Nielsen lives in a home just down the street and Ruiz resides in another house two blocks away.
Schlossnagle is wary of cliques, viewing them as deterrents to a team theme. How, though, can anyone break up a troupe that has spent so much time together and is as close as any blood brothers?
"We had a problem with that last year. A lot of people accused us of that. It's really not a clique. It's just like having four brothers, someone to talk to all the time. We're supposed to break that up?" said James Wickman.
"No, you can't break up family," said Robbie Van. "It's crazy how much we all hang out together. We all get along. Anyone who steps into our home would think we're going to kill each other, but that's just 'brother' stuff. It's how it is, and how it's been since we were 10."
That was about when Legacy Little League split off from Green Valley, creating a rivalry that endured through high school.
It was against Green Valley, which had current Rebels pitcher Ben Scheinbaum on its roster, that Nielsen made his acrobatic catch a couple of years later.
In Hawthorne, Legacy lost its opener to Reno Continental, 6-1, when it fizzled after starting pitcher Brandon Boesch, now at Pepperdine, got tossed for throwing his glove to the dirt in protest of a questionable call.
Then Legacy slammed Fallon, 22-8, and beat Continental twice to win the Nevada title.
In the West Region tournament at Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino, Calif., Legacy defeated Northglenn (Colo.), got zapped by Northridge City (Calif.), 10-0, and was eliminated by Nanakuli-Maili of Hawaii.
James Wickman remembers finding his father, Steve, in the stands that sat more than 5,000. When Steve touched his nose, James threw his knuckler. Nielsen hit a long home run in Legacy's last game, but the defeat might have been inevitable.
"They looked like a bunch of men," Nielsen said of the Hawaiians. "They had facial hair, and we didn't. They talked deep, and our voices were still, he-he high-pitched."
Mike Van saw his players sweating when they saw an opponent with a goatee strut across the field.
"Why are you worried, just because he dropped his baby off at day care?" Van said to his players, relaxing them into having a good time.
Silverado's championship in 2000 arrived via forfeit, because Reno and Durango, already with a loss apiece, were both eliminated from the tournament when a brawl was fueled by players from both benches.
In their next-to-last prep game together, Nielsen & Co. watched Robbie Van whiff 14 Basic High batters. Every time Van reached a two-strike count, Joe (at third), James (at first) and Eric (in right) turned sideways, stuck out an arm and kicked out a leg.
"Signifying a 'K,' " said Mike Van. "They were idiots, but it was funny. And it's been fun watching them mature."
Robbie Van, a 6-2 left-handed junior who was tabbed as the best pitching prospect in the Mountain West before the season, could be on his way to professional ball after next month's draft.
Scouts glow about his potential, and he will accept an offer if a signing bonus meets his requirements. That will break up a nucleus of talent that has been together for more than 10 years and has not suffered many losses.
That puts a special perspective on the next few weeks.
"I think it's been good for Las Vegas to have some local guys to follow," said Joe Wickman. "A lot of older people have come up to me and said, 'Yeah, we've followed you since you were 12, and now you're here.' Gives them something to root for."
Nielsen called it a priceless bond that will last the players' lifetimes. And it all started, according to James Wickman, because Mike and Diana Van always had such a well-stocked pantry and freezer.
"Pizzas, everything," James said. "They'd always have the good stuff, and that's all we cared about."
In the twilight of their time as teammates, a few Rebels have grown to care much more about each other.
archive
