The Miners were close to making history tonight, as Sussex County put up 22 hits against the Down East Bird Dawgs, going on to win 17-8 and win the series at Grainger Stadium. For the first time this season, Sussex County wore their gold uniforms, going up against Down East in Kinston, North Carolina.
Wasting no time at all, Kiko Romero hit his 13th double in the top of the first inning, bringing in Sean Roby Jr. and Hunter D’Amato, who both singled respectively, making it a 2-0 ball game. In the bottom of the first, Billy Parsons, delivers two strike outs. Haiden Walters, in the top of the second, narrowly avoids getting out on first thanks to a miss play by Bird Dawgs second baseman Kenny Levari, bringing in Dean Ferrara to make it 3-0. Bird Dawgs’ Danell Figueroa singled on a ground ball to center field, allowing Danell Figueroa to take second while Trotter Harlan and Ali LaPread scored two for Down East. In the top of the third inning, Dean Ferrara hits an RBI to allow the score to go up 5-2, as well as Sandro Gaston and Mahki Backstrom to score.
The Miners recorded a majority of their runs while being down two outs in this game, including Keenan Taylor, who recorded a grand slam in the top of the fifth inning, allowing four runs to score to bring the miners up by seven runs. This followed after Down East pitcher Jackson Grounds allowed four balls with the bases loaded. The Miners would continue to dominate during the top of the fifth inning, going on to score nine runs and go up by 11 (16-5) at one point.
Up until the 7th inning, Sussex County recorded a run in every inning that they played. They led the game 17-7 in the seventh. Haiden Walters recorded four hits, three Hits from Romero, Taylor and Mateo respectively. Parsons pitched for 5 innings, being credited with the win, Jacob Widener for two and both Colin Kelly and Jorge Garcia pitched one
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– Written by Matthew P. Malchiodi