ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Johnathon Tripp retired the first 14 batters he faced and Jared Mang blasted a three-run homer in the first inning as Silver held off a Cherry seventh-inning rally to win 5-4 in the first game of the Cherry & Silver World Series on Tuesday night at Santa Ana Star Field.
Tripp shut down the Cherry bats as he tossed six shutout innings and surrendered just two hits with eight strikeouts and no walks. The senior didn’t give up a hit until there was one out in the fifth inning.
“Me and Robby (catcher Robert Campillo) had a game plan coming in to get the umpire to give us the low call and that’s what we did,” Tripp said of his performance. “We established sinkers first off and then resorted to the four-seam fastball later. We kept getting the low call and stayed with it. We were just able to change the eye level and execute it.”
UNM coach Ray Birmingham was more than pleased with what he saw out of Tripp.
“What a great performance by Johnathon Tripp,” the 10th-year Lobo coach said. “That’s very encouraging for us. That’s a guy that can pitch on Friday nights. He knows how to pitch, he has great command and he has great velocity. He’s got great command of three pitches. It was impressive watching him pitch tonight.”
Tripp and the Silver team got all the support it needed in the first two innings of the contest as an error got things going for the Silver in the bottom of the first on a ball hit by Daniel Collier.
Beau Capanna followed with a single before 2016 Mountain West Most Valuable Player Carl Stajduhar laced a double to left to score Collier to make it 1-0 Silver.
That’s when Mang followed by hitting a liner over the fence in left-center field for a three-run shot to give Silver a 4-0 lead.
Silver added another in the second as a Collier walk and a Capanna single set up Stajduhar for another RBI double to push the advantage to 5-0.
Nobody scored again until the top of the seventh when Cherry got things going by loading the bases with no outs (without a hit – two walks and a hit batter) before Andrew Pratt – who earned freshman All-American honors last season and broke up Tripp’s perfect game in the fifth – ripped a bases-clearing double to right-center field to make it 5-3.
Silver’s Jake Nelson entered in relief following the Pratt double and the lefty shut down Cherry, giving up a run on a wild pitch before closing out the game to pick up the save.
The freshman Capanna paced Silver by going 3-for-4 with a run and a double, Mang finished 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI, Stajduhar went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI and freshman Justin Watari went 2-for-2.
Pratt led Cherry with two of its three hits, going 2-for-3 with two doubles, three RBI and a run.
Overall, Birmingham said he was pleased with what he saw on the first night.
“It’s all here,” Birmingham said. “It’s going to be an exciting season and I’m really fired up about it.”
Tuesday night’s guest coaches for Silver were Dee Dennis III (former Lobo and Managing Member of DKD Electric) and Warren Ellis (UNM grad and Senior Vice President of Mass Mutual Southwest) while the Cherry coaches were Dee Dennis Jr. (founder of DKD Electric and a long-time Lobo baseball supporter) and Greg Brown (GM of Admiral Beverage).
The five-game series continues 6 p.m. Wednesday at Santa Ana Star Field and is free to attend.