ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In the pivotal third game of the Cherry-Silver Series, Silver erupted for five runs in the bottom of the second en route to an easy 8-1 win. Just as importantly, however, is the fact that they now lead the series two-games-to-one.
Andre Vigil led off the decisive inning with a sharp single to left-center, and he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lane Milligan. Dominic Demarco then singled to left to score Vigil, and he advanced to third on a single by Matt Reyes. Reyes promptly stole second to put two men in scoring position for Aaron Siple.
The senior, and one of the captains for Silver, tripled to left-center to score both men. He came around to score on an error by Cherry’s third baseman, Carl Stajduhar, which allowed Dalton Bowers to reach safely. A single by Jared Holley moved Bowers to third, and Bowers came around to score on a throwing error by Cory Voss.
Silver added two more in the third, and Milligan hit a home run leading off the fifth to back starter Mike Gould, who allowed just one run on five hits in five innings. He struck out two and walked one.
Cherry’s run came in the fourth. Sam Haggerty led off with a triple deep to right center, and he scored on a groundout to short by Luis Gonzalez.
Eight of the nine Silver starters recorded a hit as they out-hit Cherry 12-5. Milligan, Vigil and Weber each had a pair, while Vigil and Milligan also scored twice each. Haggerty, Jack Zoellner and Kirby McGuire each went 1-for-2 with a walk for Cherry.
The honorary coaches for this game were Ernie Blackstone and Matt Hibbitts for Silver, and Rocky Hughes and his daughter, Samantha Gunn (seen at left doing the requisite 25 pushups for the losing team), for Cherry. The fourth game of the series will be Friday night at 5, and admission is once again free and it is open to the public.