Martin Figueroa led a 16-hit Sussex County attack with three doubles, four RBI and two runs scored as the Miners defeated the New York Boulders 12-10 on Friday night at Skylands Stadium in Augusta, NJ.

Figueroa drove in two runs with a second inning bases loaded double that gave the Miners a 5-2 lead; then was hit with a pitch with the bases loaded in the sixth to give Sussex County a 6-5 advantage. He then lashed a two-out, run-scoring double in the seventh to extend the Miners’ lead to 10-7.

After seeing the Boulders battle back from a pair of three-run deficits to tie the game at 5-5 in the top of the sixth inning, the Miners regained the lead for good with a four-run outburst in their half of the frame. The rally against New York relievers Alex Mack and Luke Burton saw Sussex County snap the tie when Figueroa was hit by a Mack pitch with the bases loaded. Chuck Taylor followed with a sacrifice fly before Juan Kelly’s two-run double gave the Miners a 9-5 advantage.

Sussex County had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against Boulders’ starter Andy Hammond on the strength of an RBI single by Taylor and a two-run home run by Jackie Urbaez, his first of the season.

The Boulders cut their deficit to 3-2 in the fourth inning. Kevonte Mitchell walked before Zach Kirtley singled. Tucker Nathans then lashed a two-run double.

The Miners answered in the bottom of the fourth with a two-run double by Figueroa that extended the Sussex County lead to 5-2.

However, New York would score once in the fifth and twice in the sixth to knot the game at 5-5.

In the fifth, Jack Sundberg’s single scored Milton Smith, Jr., who had tripled; then, in the sixth, Marcus Mastrobuoni hit a two-run homer off of Miners’ starter Alexander Vargas to even matters at 5-5. It was Mastrobuoni’s fifth of the season.

Vargas departed after six innings, allowing five runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out three, giving way to Tyler Luneke, who was touched up for two runs in the seventh inning, allowing New York to inch back to within two runs at 9-7 – one came on Gian Martellini’s solo home run, his eighth of the year, the other on a wild pitch by Robert Klinchock, who came on to relieve Luneke with two outs and two runners on, that allowed Sundberg to score.

The Miners, though, responded with an RBI double by Figueroa, a run-scoring single by Taylor and an RBI triple by Kelly in the bottom of the seventh to increase their lead back to three runs at 12-7. The RBI for Taylor and Kelly were each their third of the night.

New York would get three runs back in the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Martellini, an RBI single by Smith, Jr. and a bases loaded walk to Kirtley that cut their deficit to 12-10. Tucker Nathans ended the eighth for the Boulders by driving Taylor to the wall in right-center for the final out, leaving the bases loaded.

Vargas picked up the win for the Miners, raising his mark to 4-5 on the year, while Mack was tagged with the loss, falling to 0-2 on the season. Danny Zardon pitched a scoreless ninth inning for Sussex County to record his first save as a Miner and fifth overall this season.