Sussex County wins home series against one of Atlantic Division’s best
Following Saturday’s rainout, the Sussex County Miners (10-15) played a doubleheader against the New Jersey Jackals (14-12) on Family Fun Sunday at Skylands Stadium. The Miners won game one, 8-6, but dropped game two, 3-2. Sussex County’s game one victory secured the series win over their in-state rival in the latest installment of the Battle of New Jersey.
The Miners looked to the righty starting pitcher Kellen Brothers (1-1, 3.38 ERA) to take the series in the first game of the doubleheader, searching for his second victory on the campaign.
It took no time for New Jersey to strike first, as Jackal rightfielder Isaac Bellony smacked the first pitch of the ballgame out to centerfield for his fourth home run of the season.
Right-handed pitcher Malik Binns (0-2, 8.36 ERA) toed the slab for the Jackals in game one of the double dip.
Sussex County quickly responded in the bottom half of the inning, putting up a four-spot on the board against Binns, highlighted by an RBI double from third baseman Haiden Walters and a two-run single by centerfielder Will Zimmerman.
One inning later, the Miners would threaten with runners on second and third with only one out, but a flyout and a strikeout by Binns allowed him to escape the jam without a run coming across.
Sussex County added more insurance in the bottom of the third, as an error committed by Jackal second baseman Daunte Stuart with two outs gave way to two more Miner runs coming across, capped with an RBI double by firstbaseman Dean Ferrera.
Brothers settled in after the leadoff homer to open the game, retiring nine of the next ten, until the Jackals opened the fourth with back-to-back singles. Two batters later, a walk to pinch-hitter Sam Angelo loaded the bases for New Jersey, setting up centerfielder Aldalay Kolokie for a two-run single to bring the Jackals within three. A flair into right-center field that was misplayed scored another, and an errant throw home from Taylor trickled out of play and allowed two more runs to score on a little-league home run.
Brothers responded by striking out the next two batters to stop the bleeding for Sussex County. After entering the fourth inning trailing 6-1, a five-run fourth inning for the Jackals presented a brand new ballgame in Augusta.
Sussex County once again immediately had the answer for the Jackals, as leftfielder Kiko Romero roped an RBI double down the rightfield line to recapture the lead for the Miners.
The Miners turned to their bullpen for the fifth inning, handing the ball to righty reliever Chad Gartland. Brothers finished with six earned runs over 4.0 innings pitched, alongside four strikeouts and two walks.
Sussex County shortstop Evan Berkey would knock Binns out of the game following a leadoff hit by pitch to open the fifth, as New Jersey called on righty Joe Joe Rodriguez in relief. Binns left after 4.0+ innings, surrendering seven runs, six of which were earned, and nine hits while striking out just two.
A scoreless fifth inning earned Rodriguez the sixth inning, where Ferrera led off the inning with his third hit of the game and would eventually come around to score a key insurance run for the Miners.
Gartland provided two scoreless innings for the Miners out of the pen, which allowed for righty Parker Primeaux to come on for the save in the seventh.
The Jackals would bring the winning run to the plate in the seventh, but Primeaux induced a flyout to left to secure Sussex County the first win of the doubleheader and the series victory.
Thirty minutes after claiming the series victory, the Miners took to the field once again, this time looking to sweep the Jackals right out of Sussex County.
The left-handed starter Rob Hensey (1-3, 6.15 ERA) took the hill for his fifth start of the season for Sussex County in game two, searching for his second victory of the season.
The Jackals handed the ball to Elio Serrano (1-1, 2.25 ERA) for the latter game of Sunday’s doubleheader.
Game two served much differently than game one, as both starters threw up zero after zero on the scoreboard.
After striking out the side in the second inning, Hensey ran into trouble in the third as a dropped fly ball by Zimmerman opened the door for the Jackals. However, Hensey worked himself out of trouble, inducing a pair of groundouts from Bellony and Stuart, as the game remained deadlocked at 0-0.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Miners would threaten with two runners on, but Serrano avoided trouble with a pair of strikeouts and a foul popout from Walters, leaving the Miners still searching for their first run of the game.
Hensey would be the first to blink in this pitcher’s duel, as Jackal third baseman Luis Encarnacion unloaded on a first pitch fastball, belting a solo homerun to left for the first run of the ballgame.
As they had done all day, the Miners immediately answered the run from the Jackals in the bottom half of the frame, with designated hitter Sean Roby Jr. going the other way for his team-leading ninth homerun of the season to tie the game at 1-1. Sussex County threatened to bring another run across following a two-out double from Berkey before a Zimmerman flyout to center ended the inning.
Later on in the bottom of the sixth, with two outs and Serrano still dealing, Taylor lofted a flyball into right field, but Ballony lost the battle with the sun as the ball fell in for a double. Berkey soon after followed up with a double of his own that was ripped down the left field line, scoring Taylor from second and delivering Sussex County their first lead of the ballgame.
The Miners sent out their starter for the game, Rob Hensey, for the seventh inning to try to earn himself a complete game victory.
Former Sussex County outfielder Martin Figueroa greeted Hensey in the seventh with a double, advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt from catcher Gustavo Sosa. Jackal shortstop Connor Maryniak came up in the clutch with his own double grounded inside of third, evening the score at two a side.
Maryniak’s double knocked Hensey out of the game and called on Primeaux for his second appearance of the day. Hensey finished with a line of two runs of walk-free baseball over 6.1 innings pitched alongside four punchouts for the righty.
Kolokie added an infield single to the New Jersey rally, and with Maryniak advancing to third, he was able to come in to score the go-ahead run sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Christian Hall.
Similar to Hensey, New Jersey starter Serrano took the hill for the seventh inning, looking for his first complete game of the season. Miner second baseman Hunter D’Amato kept the game alive with a two-out single, but a Taylor flyout to center halted the Sussex County rally as the New Jersey Jackals avoided the sweep with a victory in the final game of the three-game set.
Serrano earned the complete game victory, his first complete game of the season, finishing with a line of 7.0 innings pitched, 2 earned runs on 7 hits, as well as five Ks without surrendering a walk.
The Miners will utilize the off day on Monday to rest and travel down south to take on the Downeast Bird Dawgs in a six-game set from Grainger Stadium in Kinston, North Carolina. Game one’s first pitch is set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday night.
By Kevin Hain
Above: Rob Hensey pitches in the back end of the doubleheader (photo by Logan Winslow)