Boulders tee off on Miners, plate 21 runs
The Sussex County Miners surrendered nine runs in the opening inning and were unable to recover, falling to the New York Boulders, 21-4, on Saturday night at Clover Stadium.
Looking to even the series after Friday’s narrow 4-3 loss, Sussex County instead ran into an early offensive explosion from the Boulders that set the tone for the remainder of the game.
The Miners struck first when Mahki Backstrom launched a leadoff home run on a line drive to right field, briefly giving Sussex County a 1-0 advantage. However, the momentum quickly shifted in the bottom half of the inning.
Making his first start of the season, Collin Kelly encountered immediate trouble against the Boulders lineup. Fritz Genther opened the scoring for New York with an RBI fly ball to center field to give the Boulders a 2-1 lead. Santino Russo followed with an RBI single, scoring Dan Tauken, before John Schroeder extended the rally with a two-run single to make it 5-1.
The inning’s decisive blow came when Genther returned to the plate and delivered a grand slam, capping a nine-run first inning for New York. Kelly recorded one more out on a pop-up by Aaron Simmons but did not return for the second inning.
New York’s offense continued to produce throughout the night. In the third inning, Tauken connected for the Boulders’ second grand slam of the game against reliever Jacob Widener. The Boulders added three more runs in the fourth inning on Tauken’s second home run of the evening and a solo shot by Norris McClure.
Back-to-back home runs from Schroeder and Genther in the fifth inning pushed the Boulders’ lead to 18-1, effectively putting the game out of reach.
Genther and Tauken led the offensive charge, combining for six hits, five home runs, and 13 RBIs. After strong early performances from the Miners bullpen to begin the season, Sussex County was unable to contain New York’s powerful middle of the order.
The Boulders finished with 21 runs across five innings of offense en route to the victory.
With the loss, Sussex County falls to 4-4 on the young season and suffers its first series defeat of 2026. The Miners will look to salvage the finale of the three-game set Sunday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Watch all Miners games live on HomeTeam Network and listen to the live Miners Radio Network broadcast on Mixlr.
Written by Alex Remoll with Scott Davies