ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — There wasn’t a player in the ballpark that wanted to be at the plate more than Cherry’s Chris Smutny to start the seventh-and-final inning and his team down a run to Thursday evening at Santa Ana Star Field.
The junior third baseman the inning before in very windy conditions had dropped a pop-up that allowed two runners to score with two outs and give Silver a 6-5 advantage.
Smutny made up for it by lining a home run off the foul pole in left field to lead to tie the game and Cherry later got a go-ahead, two-out RBI single from Andre Gregory to help it defeat Silver 8-6 to take a 2-1 series lead.
Cherry, the visitor for Thursday’s matchup, entered the bottom of the sixth with a 5-3 advantage when Silver got a two-out rally going when an Anthony Acevedo walk, Kelton McCoy single and a Jacob Westerman walk loaded the bases.
Cherry went to reliever Christian Tripp, but an error on a pickoff throw to second allowed Acevedo to score to make it 5-4. Tripp then got Danny Collier to pop up high near third base, but Smutny couldn’t squeeze the pop up in windy conditions and McCoy and Westerman scored to make it 6-5 Silver – the score it would be heading into the seventh.
Smutny, who was 2-for-2 heading into this at-bat, led off the frame by ripping a shot through the wind and striking the left field foul pole to tie the game as quickly as Silver had lost the lead.
“I’ve been tossed hundreds of fly balls in my back yard (growing up) and I don’t think I ever missed one,” Smutny said. “I don’t feel like I’ve missed a pop-up since I was six and I do it in the sixth inning. … But I was surprisingly calm. I knew (Schilling) throws a two-seam (fastball) and I figured he was going to come in, so I waited on it. … It found a little jet stream and found a way out.”
Cherry eventually had runners on second and third later in the seventh when with two outs Silver decided to intentionally walk Luis Gonzalez to load the bases. Gregory made them pay with a go-ahead RBI single up the middle to make it 7-6 Cherry. Jack Zoellner, who had a big day for Cherry, followed with an RBI single to push the score to its final, 8-6.
Zoellner finished 3-for-5 with four RBI and a run for Cherry while Gonzalez was 2-for-3 with two doubles and Gregory went 2-for-5 with a run and the go-ahead RBI.
Tripp picked up the victory, 1.1 innings and giving up just two hits with a strikeout. Cherry got a solid start from freshman Justin Slaten as the right-hander went 3.2 innings and gave up a run on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk.
Justin Watari led Silver at the plate, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Hayden Schilling got the loss, going an inning and giving up three runs on three hits.
Game 4 of the series is 2 p.m. Friday at Santa Ana Star Field.