ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – After dropping the opening game of the 2019 UNM Lobo Baseball Cherry and Silver Series, the Silver squad bounced back over the next two nights winning 4-0 and 21-10 to claim the series.
In game two, Silver received a tremendous starting pitching effort from rising senior Nathaniel Garley. The Albuquerque native pitched 4.0 innings and allowed no runs on three hits. He walked two and struck out three. Prior to Garley exiting the game, Silver had plated just a single run. That run was scored in the top of the third when Parks Bouck tripled to lead off the frame. Lance Russell then chased Bouck home on a groundout to shortstop.
Team Silver @UNMLoboBaseball came away #WorldSeriesChampions in the 2019 Cherry/Silver World Series last night! Couldn’t be more happy to have coached with @JonCoyne33 to end the curse for Team Silver! pic.twitter.com/aiSu7Y58Al
— Brandon Higelin (@LoboHiggy) November 3, 2019
After Garley’s outing was through, Silver turned to Justin Flebbe out of the bullpen. The freshman went on to pitch the next two innings and held the shutout effort while scattering a pair of hits and striking out two.
With Flebbe on the mound, Silver added runs of insurance in the top of the sixth. In that inning, Kyler Castillo led off with a double and eventually got to third base ahead of Connor Mang’s sacrifice fly. Jerry Davis then walked and two batters later scored on a RBI single by Trace Bucey.
An inning later, Silver tallied their fourth and final run of the game as another leadoff hit came around to score. This time it was a leadoff single by Adam Schneider that resulted in a run. Two batters following his single, Schneider scored on a double by Russell.
Flebbe came back to the mound for the seventh, but an error and a hit chased him and brought in Jack White. The sophomore Albuquerque native came in and retired the next three batters as he nailed down the save.
GAME 3
Having tied the series at a game apiece, Silver came out firing on offense in game three scoring twice in the top of the first. In that inning, Kyler Castillo doubled with one out and two batters later, Jerry Davis drove him in on a double to right-centerfield. Following a wild pitch and a walk to Cayde Ward, Davis scored on a throwing error by the Cherry catcher to make it 2-0.
Cherry came back in the bottom of the first and scored to cut Silver’s lead in half. Kemuel Thomas-Rivera singled to centerfield to lead off the inning and later stole second. Harry Fullerton then drove him in with two outs on a single to left field.
Neither team would score in the second inning, but the third inning was the decisive frame as Silver struck for 10 runs to build a lead they would not relinquish.
In that inning, Silver totaled seven hits with four going for extra bases. The big blows in the frame were a two-RBI single up the middle by Parks Bouck, a two-RBI double down the right field line by Lance Russell, and an RBI triple to deep centerfield by Connor Mang.
Silver continued to add to their lead with two more runs in the fourth and three in the fifth. Cherry attempted to chip away at the deficit and at one point had it down to a nine-run game at 17-8 thanks to a run in the fourth, five in the fifth and one in the sixth.
That would be as close as Cherry could get as Silver added four runs of insurance in the top of the seventh. All four runs in the inning scored on the longball as Terrell Hudson hit a solo home run to deep left-centerfield to lead off the frame, and later in the inning, Mang sent a three-run shot out to left field.
Cherry did not go quietly in the bottom of the inning, however thanks to a two-RBI double to right-centerfield from Bryan Seamster that brought the game to its final of 21-10.
With the annual Cherry and Silver Series now concluded, be sure to keep up with all UNM Lobo Baseball social media accounts and GoLobos.com for updates of the program including the upcoming release of the 2020 schedule!