In the second game of the three game series, the New Jersey Jackals came out swinging, jumping on Sussex County Miners and evening the series at one in a 6-4 win. 

New Jersey wasted no time after dropping game one a day prior to Sussex County, getting to starter Rob Hensey early with two first inning runs. 

The scoring began when Jackals second baseman Duante Stuart worked a gritty five pitch RBI walk, bringing Isaac Bellony home for the game’s first run. Moments later, Hensey uncorked a wild pitch during the next at bat, allowing left fielder Luis Encarnación to race home and extend the Jackals’ early 2-0 lead.

The Miners quickly began chipping away at the deficit in the top of the second inning when catcher Sandro Gaston ripped a ground rule RBI double, bringing home first baseman Kiko Romero. Sussex County then grabbed the lead in the third inning after right fielder Edwin Mateo launched a two run homer, putting the Miners in front 3-2 and shifting momentum toward the visitors.

Just as it looked like Sussex County was beginning to take control, New Jersey answered immediately.

In the bottom half of the third inning, Encarnación crushed a solo shot to right center field to even the game at three apiece. From there, Jackals starter Nyan Hernandez settled in nicely, posting three consecutive scoreless innings to keep the Miners quiet and give his offense a chance to respond.

That opportunity came in the sixth inning.

With shortstop Connor Maryniak aboard, first baseman Dariel Gomez delivered the biggest swing of the night, blasting a two run homer to put the Jackals back in front 5-3 and electrify the crowd.

“Just trying to stay simple, I saw that the defense was playing me pull side lefty. Just trying to keep my head in there, was trying to make contact bringing that runner in from second and keeping it simple,” said Gomez after his go-ahead home run gave New Jersey the lead for good.

After six strong innings from Hernandez, the Jackals turned things over to the bullpen in the seventh. Ryan Steinhauer was the first reliever out of the pen and immediately surrendered a solo homer to Dean Ferrera, whose blast to straightaway center field cut the deficit to 5-4 and injected life into the Miners dugout.

Sussex County continued to threaten later in the inning, placing the tying run on third and the go ahead run on second with two outs. New Jersey then called upon reliever Dosie Drakeford to escape the jam.

Drakeford needed just one pitch.

The right hander induced a groundout from D’Amato on a first pitch changeup to strand both runners and preserve the Jackals’ slim lead.

“So, I know they were a fastball hitting team so I wanted to come in and get the job done and threw a first pitch changeup and luckily got a rollover,” said Drakeford, who also returned for a clean eighth inning.

The Jackals added a key insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Maryniak launched a solo homer, stretching New Jersey’s lead to 6-4 heading into the ninth.

Closer Malik Binns then slammed the door shut for the Jackals, allowing one walk while striking out one batter to earn the save and secure the series tying victory.

This win moves the Jackals to 6-5 on the season, leapfrogging the Miners to be second place in the Atlantic East Divison. 

New Jersey will now look to capture the rubber match of the three game series against Sussex County on Thursday, May 21 at 10:35 a.m. as the Jackals aim for a series win.