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FL New Jersey Jackals

Soggy Saturday Leads to Sunday Split

May 15, 2022 - Frontier League (FL)
New Jersey Jackals News Release


New Jersey Jackals take on the Evansville Otters at Bosse Field
New Jersey Jackals take on the Evansville Otters at Bosse Field
(New Jersey Jackals, Credit: Preston Leinenbach, Evansville Otters Director of Communications)

Evansville, Ind. - The official rules of baseball dictate that a contest is deemed "Official" when the home team has a lead after 4 1/2 innings. On Saturday night, the Jackals found themselves down 8-4 heading into the top of the fifth when the skies opened up in Evansville. That led to the suspension of the contest until Sunday, and what a break it was for the Jackals, as they roared back to win 10-9 to move to 2-0 on the season.

The game started well for New Jersey as LF Alfredo Marte drove home 2B Santiago Chirino on a RBI single in the top of the first, but LHP Jared Milch had a less-than-auspicious outing, allowing six runs in the bottom of the second allowing. The big blow in that frame was a grand slam driven through the wind by Gary Mattis, staking the Otters to a 6-1 lead through two innings.

CF Todd Isaacs displayed some muscle of his own, clubbing a two run homer, his first of the season, to score 3B Trevor Abrams and cut the Evansville lead in half, 6-3. Zach Biermann would reclaim those two runs for the Otters immediately, singling in two runs to make it 8-3 after three innings.

With the weather in southern Indiana rapidly deteriorating, the Jackals had time to scratch one more run across, courtesy of a DH Riley Mihalik RBI fielders choice. The nasty rain storm, which knocked an umbrella off a Bosse Field party deck and onto the field of play, forced the decision to resume action Sunday morning with the Jackals trailing 8-4, with a runner on first and no one out. The night's rest in between at-bats clearly worked, as four runs came home to tie the game before most had even walked through the gates for the opening contest.

A Chirino single advanced Isaacs to third, followed by a swinging bunt from Marte to make it 8-5. 1B Dalton Combs lifted a fly ball to left that initially appeared to be caught, but the ball evaded capture by Evansville's Jeffrey Baez, scoring Chirino. A SS Justin Wylie double and a C Jason Agresti single knotted the score at 8.

In the top of the sixth, the Jackals took the lead for good, utilizing a Marte RBI smash hit that was ruled an error and a passed ball with RF Josh Rehwaldt at third to give them a 10-8 lead.

Although the offense was the star of the resumed contest, it was defense that sealed the victory. After gaining one run back, the Otters had the bases loaded trailing 10-9 with one out. Facing RHP Austin Smith for New Jersey, Otters catcher Justin Felix sent a fly ball in the direction of Marte who made the catch and fired the ball to Agresti for the rare 7-to-2 double play to end the game. Jose Tavarez (1-0) pitched 3 strong innings of relief, while Smith earned his first save.

GAME 2:

Sunday's regularly scheduled contest had the Jackals licking their chops in search of the first sweep of 2022, a feat they accomplished only once all of last season. Whereas the first game quickly became a donnybrook, the second contest was one dominated by pitching. Both starters, Hayden Shenefield for New Jersey and Ryan O'Reilly for Evansville, worked through five innings. Neither allowed a run over those five frames and scattered just 10 baserunners between them.

Shenefield worked into the sixth for the Jackals, but ran into trouble after a single by Miles Gordon and a walk issued to Jeffrey Baez. Juan Perez came out of the bullpen and allowed a sacrifice bunt, issued an intentional walk and then surrendered a single with the bases loaded by Elijah MacNamee. George Callil was then hit by a pitch, pushing Evansville to a 2-0 lead. Andy Armstrong kept the train moving, lacing a single to left that scored two more insurance runs and the Otters led 4-0 after six.

Frontier League rules dictate that, if a nine inning game is completed the next day, the contest proceeding it must be seven innings. So the Jackals were left with just three outs to overcome their second four-run deficit of the afternoon. Reliever Logan Sawyer for Evansville was unfazed, allowing just one single in the bottom of the seventh to secure the Otters first win. The Jackals drop to 2-1, with Joe Riley taking the win (1-0) and Juan Perez (0-1) suffering the defeat.

New Jersey now travels to city number two on their season-opening six-game road trip for a three game set in Florence, Kentucky against the Y'alls. The first game is Tuesday night at 6:32pm and can be seen on FloBaseball, the home for all your Frontier League action!

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Images from this story

New Jersey Jackals take on the Evansville Otters at Bosse Field
New Jersey Jackals take on the Evansville Otters at Bosse Field
(Preston Leinenbach, Evansville Otters Director of Communications)		   

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