Infielder earns prep All-American honors for consistency

By Sean Ammerman

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 | midnight

There's no boisterous cheering when Green Valley High infielder Jordan Van Hoosier leads-off with another base-hit. He's so consistent at the plate that excessive celebration would be redundant.

But Van Hoosier's latest accomplishment does warrant celebration.

The 17-year-old senior was Henderson's only representative on the Louisville Slugger High School All-American first team, a squad of the nation's top prep players that was announced last month.

"It was a surprise," he said. "I just think it's a really cool honor. It's something I should cherish and take pride in."

Van Hoosier's base-running speed and .500 batting average made him the perfect lead-off batter for the Gators' Sunrise Regional championship team last season.

He tallied five home runs, 17 steals, 32 RBIs and set countless more scoring situations for other batters in the lineup.

"Jordan is just a spark plug for our team," Green Valley coach Nick Garritano said. "He's the type of player that can hit lead off and get the games started right. He had a string of nine games where he led the game off with an extra base hit. And four of those hits were home runs."

Garritano said Van Hoosier stands out as one of the top players in school history, which includes players from eight state championship teams.

Van Hoosier is the third player in Garritano's tenure to be named an All-American, but he is the first of those to be honored for his junior season.

"We are fortunate to have a player like Jordan on our team," Garritano said. "He is certainly one of the top five players I have coached. That he was chosen out of the thousands of players in the country is a great achievement. That he was chosen as a junior makes it an even greater honor."

As strong as Van Hoosier was at the plate, his greatest improvement was on defense.

He was a reliable third baseman, capable of catching base runners on tough throws to first.

"I really improved and matured to the varsity game," Van Hoosier said. "I always could hit the ball, but I wanted to be really sharp on defense. I don't remember when, but I know there was a point when I looked back and thought, I was playing pretty well now. I just kept pushing forward and tried to stay as perfect as I could."

Louisville Slugger chose 109 players for its all-american teams.

Other Southern Nevada All-Americans included Durango shortstop Niko Vasquez, Bishop Gorman first baseman and pitcher Jeff Malm and Bonanza second baseman Kris Bryant.

Sean Ammerman is a reporter for the Home News. He can be reached at 990-2661 or [email protected].