(POMONA, NY)- The Rockland Boulders (29-21) hosted the first place New Jersey Jackals (32-18) at Palisades Credit Union Park Tuesday morning for the first of a three game split series. Rockland entered the game with a four-game home winning streak and a two-game win streak overall. With the loss the Boulders are now 3.0 games out of first, sitting in third place behind Quebec and New Jersey
The Jackals opened the game on fire, taking advantage of Boulders pitcher Jason Byers, whom was making his professional debut. The Jackals finished the top half of the first inning on top 5-0, on 6 hits, while batting around the order. Taylor Brennan and Dvontrey Richardson each had a 2 RBI double for the Jackals. Cory Vaughn tacked on an RBI single as well.
After opening the game with an offensive explosion, the Jackals cooled off, thanks to Jason Byers settling in nicely and finding his rhythm. After allowing 5 runs on 6 hits in the first, Byers retired the next ten batters he faced, and not letting up a hit until the fourth inning. Byers was relieved in the fifth inning by Liarvis Breto. Byers finished his pro debut pitching 4.2 innings allowing 5 earned runs on 8 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.
The Boulders finally got on the board and made their bid at a comeback with two outs in the sixth inning. Boulders second baseman Pat McKenna notched his 9th RBI of the season, with a ground ball that just escaped the reach of New Jersey short stop Eddie Newton, bringing home Junior Arrojo and lessening the deficit to 5-1. Two batters later, Boulders right fielder Mike Montville hit a dribbler to third, allowing Mike Fransoso to reach home safely and McKenna beat the force at third. Devin Harris followed up Montville’s at bat with a 2 RBI single to center for his 4th and 5th RBI in a Boulders uniform and putting the Boulders within one run of New Jersey, 5-4.
Former Boulder Mike Schwartz gave the Jackals some breathing room in the top half of the 7th, hitting an RBI single extending New Jersey’s lead to a score of 6-4. Schwartz later scored via an Eddie Newton single, taking a 7-4 lead.
The Jackals continued to pack on runs. Taylor Brennan crushed a 3-run home run in the 8th inning; totaling 5 RBI’s on the afternoon, and extending New Jersey’s lead to 10-4. The Boulders tacked on a run in the bottom half of the inning off of a Devin Harris single, his third RBI of the game. Elvin Soto and Mike Montville each had an RBI single in the bottom of the 9th to put the score at 10-6 and 10-7 respectively which would go on to be the final score.
The Boulders will look to bounce back tomorrow when they face the Jackals again, in New Jersey with the first pitch set for 11:00 am.