BASEBALL: Verdigris handles Sallisaw in Saturday showdown
Apr. 20—Sallisaw struck first, but that only served to ignite the already fiery Verdigris baseball team.
The Cardinals showed their hitting ability again Saturday afternoon, notching five doubles and a triple on the way to a comfortable 11-2 victory over the Black Diamonds. The win not only increased the Verdigris winning streak to four games, but it also marked the third time in four contests the team has registered 11 or more hits.
Reese Roller and Jax Ryan were exceptional in their contributions at the plate.
The former accounted for two doubles while the latter recorded a double and a triple. Logan Hall and Jaren Keith also hit doubles.
Roller hit the first double in lead-off fashion in the bottom of the first, and after Cody Bressie hit a 2-RBI single four at-bats later, Hall gave the Cardinals two more runs with a double to left field.
Aaron Buntin closed the first with an RBI single to left field, scoring Hall to make it a 5-1 spread.
Sallisaw cut into the lead in the second on a bases-loaded walk, but that was as close as it would get to challenging the home team.
The Cardinals responded in the third when Hall singled in Ryan, who led off the inning with a double, but the true offensive explosion had yet to come.
Verdigris tallied five of its 11 hits in the fourth, including two doubles and a triple. Keith drove in two runs with the second of those doubles to make it 8-2, and Ryan followed with a 2-RBI triple five pitches later.
The final run came on a sacrifice fly from Bressie.
Luke Patterson earned the win on the mound, striking out two while allowing three hits and three walks on 67 pitches through four innings. Buntin threw one inning of relief, tossing 18 pitches.
The Cardinals returned to action Monday evening, topping Grove 5-1 on the road. Read about that story in the Wednesday Edition.
