FL New Jersey Jackals

Milch, Mihalik Lead Jackals to Gutsy Win over ValleyCats

Published on June 18, 2021 under Frontier League (FL)
New Jersey Jackals News Release


Little Falls, NJ -- The bad blood continued in the rubber match of a three game series between the New Jersey Jackals and Tri-City ValleyCats on Thursday. In a game that featured 4 ejections and numerous argued calls, the Jackals rode the bat of DH Riley Mihalik and the arm of Jared Milch to a 3-2 victory.

The first six innings proved to be a pitchers duel as Milch, making his first home start for New Jersey, tossed 7 shutout innings on 102 pitches, but was countered by Tri-City starter Austin Cline who recorded 6 scoreless innings of his own.

After Cline departed, Mihalik took reliever Ryan McKay on the fifth pitch of the bottom of the seventh, giving the Jackals a 1-0 lead.

In the eighth, Jason Zgardowski would come on in relief of Milch and promptly gave up a lead off double to Tri-City 3B Juan Silverio. After a strikeout of LF Mike Gulino, 2B Carson Maxwell would walk forcing the Jackals to turn to Closer Dylan Brammer for a five out save. After striking out DH Denis Phipps, who was ejected for disagreeing with the call, a wild pitch and a two run single by 1B Oscar Campos gave the ValleyCats their first lead of the night, 2-1.

The extra-curricular action continued in the inning, as Jackals Catcher Jason Agresti was ejected for arguing with the home-plate umpire and Brammer was unable to complete a pick-off attempt of Campos at second due to the field umpire standing in his way. colton Whitehouse would pop out to end the Tri-City rally.

In the bottom of the eighth, New Jersey received a lead-off single from SS Santiago Chirino. That was followed by back-to-back strikeouts by ValleyCats reliever Turner Larkins. After 1B Dalton Combs singled to put runners at first and second, Mihalik's bat would speak loudly once again. On a 1-1 count, the Churchville, PA native lifted a pitch to centerfield where Avery Tuck made an unsuccessful diving attempt, allowing the ball to roll to the wall. The two RBI triple put the Jackals in front, 3-2 and sent the already raucous crowd into a full-fledged frenzy.

Brammer locked up the game in the top of the ninth, picking up his third victory of the season and the team's 12th. The Jackals will now head to Pomona, NY for a three-game series against the New York Boulders. They will return home for a two game clash with New York on Tuesday, June 22nd and Wednesday, June 23rd. Tickets for those games and every Jackals home game are available now at Jackals.com.

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