Jake MacKenzie’s two-run triple in the eighth inning supplied the New York Boulders with the winning run as they rallied to defeat the Washington Wild Things, 5-4, on Sunday evening at Wild Things Park in Washington, PA.

Trailing 4-3 after seven frames, New York’s Max Smith led off the eighth with a double off of Wild Things’ reliever Dan Kubiuk. Two outs later, the Boulders’ Tucker Nathans was intentionally walked, but the strategy backfired when MacKenzie laced his triple to right field, bringing home Smith and Nathans to give New York a 5-4 advantage.

The Boulders survived pushes by the Wild Things in each of the last two frames. Luke Burton emerged unscathed in the bottom of the eighth after putting runners on first and second with no one out; then, in the home half of the ninth, Leo Pineda walked three successive batters with two outs before fanning Walker LaGrange to end the game.

New York broke on top in the first inning when Gerson Molina led off with a single and scored when Nathans followed with a two-run home run.

Nick Ward led off the bottom of the first with a home run for Washington, his second of the season, to cut the Wild Things’ deficit in half at 2-1.

Molina, who had four hits in the Boulders’ win, gave the visitors a 3-1 lead in the second inning when his double sent Smith home.

However, the Wild Things would knot things at 3-3 with single runs in the second and third innings – Ian Walters knocking in one with a groundout and LaGrange plating Ward with a single.

Washington took the lead at 4-3 in the fifth when Cole Brannen scored on a passed ball.

David Vinsky and Gian Martellini each had two hits in the win for New York, whose bullpen tossed four innings of three-hit shutout ball. Matt Leon, the third of five Boulders’ pitchers picked up the win for the second successive night, while Pineda recorded his first save.

Willie Rios started for New York and went five innings, allowing all four Washington runs.

Kubiuk was tagged with the loss for Washington, who received three hits from Ward.

The victory, the second straight for New York after opening the season with a pair of losses, gave the Boulders the series win over Washington two games to one.

Tickets for all games, as well as season tickets and packages for the 2022 season are available by stopping by the box office during business hours, calling 845-364-0009 or sliding to NYBoulders.com.