Jersey Catcher Delivers Big-Time
August 9, 2021 - Frontier League (FL)
New Jersey Jackals News Release
New Jersey Jackals catcher Jason Agresti had already proven himself as All-Star caliber both at the plate and behind the plate.
He was an iron-man performer, seldom with a game off, and leading the team with a .328 batting average - sixth in the entire Frontier League.
Over the weekend, the 25-year-old from Yorktown Heights, NY, proved even more, playing a major role in two dramatic victories that broke a five-game losing streak.
First, on Saturday night on the road in Washington, PA, Agresti went 2-for-4 and smacked a solo home run in a 4-2 victory over the Wild Things. Then, in yesterday's series finale with the Northeast Division rival, Agresti delivered a clutch, two-out, run-scoring base hit to help the Jackals to an 8-7 victory.
And, for a team fighting tooth and nail to stay in the division's pennant race, Agresti has been a consistent standout who's appeared in 59 of the Jackals' 63 games so far this season.
The 6-foot-2, 220-pound catcher finished his college career at SUNY-Binghamton in 2018, then joined the Rockland Boulders for 36 games to conclude that baseball season.
Agresti became a Jackal in 2019, appearing in 63 games as a 23-year-old, and batting .268. Last summer, when the Covid pandemic shut down the league, he returned to Little Falls to play for New Jersey in the All-American Baseball Challenge, batting .320 in 21 games.
STRETCH RUN ON DECK
After Sunday's victory, the Jackals now have 33 games remaining on the regular-season schedule - 16 at home and 17 away.
The future begins tomorrow night with a rainout-caused doubleheader against the Tri-City ValleyCats at Yogi Berra Stadium, followed by single games against the Cats on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
A weekend series in Pomona to face the New York Boulders comes after that. Over the course of the season, the Jackals were scheduled to face NY a total of 28 times - more than any other opponent.
Following the Boulders series, the Jackals schedule becomes more interesting than ever for the final four weeks of the season.
First, there's a trip to Canada to face Equipe Quebec next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It will be New Jersey's first visit to our northern neighbor this year, now that the 15-month closure of the U.S.-Canada border over the pandemic has begun to be eased.
Just before the season began, the Ottawa team decided to sit out the year, while the teams from Quebec City and Trois-Rivieres (within the province of Quebec) were combined to form Equipe Quebec, which has been a homeless, road-only team since opening day.
Equipe Quebec is using ballparks in both Quebec City and Trois-Rivieres for home games down the stretch, and, by luck of the draw, the northerners will host New Jersey at 4,000-seat Stade Quillorama in downtown Trois-Rivieres, a scenic city on the St. Lawrence River, halfway between Montreal and Quebec City and approximately 450 miles from Little Falls.
And, speaking of long-distance travel, the Jackals will return from Canada to welcome the Florence Y'Alls, who will trek some 660 miles from Florence, KY - a Cincinnati suburb - for a three-game weekend series beginning Aug. 20.
The Y'Alls are in their own nip-and-tuck battle with the Evansville Otters for first place in the Frontier League's West Division, and their trip here represents one of only a handful of inter-conference matches that survived the league's drastic Covid-related cuts of inter-conference travel.
As soon as the Y'Alls leave town, the Jackals head for Skylands Stadium for the last meeting of the year with the first-place Sussex County Miners - a three-game, midweek series that could be critical in the Northeast Division pennant race.
New Jersey will make a second trip to Trois-Rivieres for a four-game series in early September, followed by a last-chance shot at their "other" Northeast rivals when the Washington Wild Things visit Yogi for three more September games that might play a role in the Northeast's final standings.
By Carl Barbati, former sports editor of the New Jersey Herald, Daily Record and The Trentonian.
Frontier League Stories from August 9, 2021
- Exciting Promotions, Raffle Prizes, and Loads of Fun at Bosse Field this Week - Evansville Otters
- Gunnar Kines Named Frontier League Pitcher of the Week - Southern Illinois Miners
- Jersey Catcher Delivers Big-Time - New Jersey Jackals
- Martinez Leads the Charge as ThunderBolts Sweep Schaumburg - Windy City ThunderBolts
- ThunderBolts and Rain Slow Boomers - Schaumburg Boomers
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
