After coming away with a 10-3 victory over the New York Boulders a night earlier, the New Jersey Jackals dropped an 11-7 extra-inning thriller Saturday afternoon after a five-run 10th inning by New York.

On a chilly afternoon with temperatures sitting below 60 degrees, the Boulders capitalized late to even the series in a highly contested early-season Frontier League Atlantic East Division matchup.

Right-hander Jordy Luciano got the start for New Jersey and worked around early trouble in the first inning. After allowing a walk to designated hitter Fritz Genther and committing a throwing error that moved runners into scoring position, Luciano escaped the inning when first baseman Dariel Gomez threw home to catcher Gustavo Sosa to cut down second baseman Kyle Hess at the plate

before retiring catcher Jack Scanlon to end the frame.

The Jackals struck first in the bottom of the inning against New York starter Garrett Cooper. Rightfielder Isaac Bellony and designated hitter Christian Hall opened with consecutive hits before second baseman Dante Stuart drove a single to deep center field, scoring Bellony for a 1-0 lead.

New Jersey extended the advantage in the second inning after Gomez redeemed an earlier defensive miscue with a two-run homer to right-center field, pushing the lead to 3-0.

The Boulders responded in the third inning.

After Luciano struck out Genther to begin the frame, New York mounted a rally behind RBI hits from shortstop Santino Rosso, first baseman Dan Tauken and third baseman Norris McClure. Tauken delivered the biggest blow of the inning with a two-run double to left field that gave the Boulders a 4-3 lead before McClure added another RBI single to make it 5-3.

Luciano exited after 2 1/3 innings, allowing five earned runs on four hits while striking out four and walking four.

Andrew Peters entered in relief and stabilized the game for New Jersey. The rookie right-hander was dominant across four scoreless innings, striking out 10 batters while allowing just three hits and three walks.

“I didn’t really settle in right away. It kind of took me a couple innings, but at the end of the day, I was really just focused on just trying to get out of the jam, get back to the bats,” Peters said.

Peters worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fourth inning with back-to-back strikeouts of Schroeder, Tauken and McClure before continuing his overpowering stretch through the sixth.

“I think I just really had to get going really quickly, and it took me a minute to kind of settle in. I need to be a little bit more ready, quite frankly, from the get-go, but at the end of the day, my teammates had a lot of confidence in me. Bobby had a lot of confidence in me to go back out there, get the job done, and I was just trying to keep the boys in,” Peters said.

Peters relied heavily on his fastball throughout the outing.

“It was just fastball. I mixed in the curve ball a little bit, but for the most part it was just a matter of trying to get fastball all over the plate,” Peters said.

He also credited the Jackals catching staff following the outing.

“Honestly, Gus is amazing. Both of our catchers, all three of our catchers are amazing, from our bullpen guy, Trent, to Yadi, and then Gus, they all give us a lot of confidence to just really trust our stuff. They’re going to block the ball, so we know we can make good two-strike pitches in the dirt if we have to. They’re going to fight for us behind the play, just to the strikes. It’s awesome having a good, confident battery pack like that,” Peters said.

Meanwhile, the Jackals chipped away offensively.

Stuart grounded into a double play in the fifth inning, but Bellony scored on the play to trim the deficit to 5-4.

“At the plate, you know, saw a lot of strikers just trying to be aggressive, get a good pitch to hit, and put a good swing on,” Stuart said.

New York added another run in the eighth when Scanlon delivered a ground-rule RBI double into the right-field corner, extending the Boulders’ lead to 6-4.

The Jackals answered with a dramatic rally in the bottom of the ninth inning.

After closer Tyler Vail entered for the save, Gomez was hit by a pitch and pinch hitter Sam Angelo worked a walk to put two runners aboard. Bellony then lined an RBI single to right field to cut the deficit to one.

Later in the inning, pinch hitter Luis Encarnación tied the game with a ground-rule double that became lodged in the outfield fence, scoring Angelo and making it 6-6.

New Jersey threatened to complete the comeback after Stuart was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out, but Felix Stevens grounded into a force play at home and Martin Figueroa popped out to send the game to extra innings.

JoJo Rodriguez pitched the ninth inning for New Jersey and kept the game tied entering extras.

“Honestly, it was just to attack the hitters,” Rodriguez said about his approach on the mound.

“I felt like I was flying open a little bit. I was feeling really good. Finally, it felt like the best I felt all season,” Rodriguez said.

“So I was kind of letting it eat a little bit, kind of got a little sporadic, but had to hone in once I once had one guy got on, got squeezed a little bit, but you know, just gotta make a better pitch,” Rodriguez added.

In the 10th, New York erupted against reliever Malik Binns.

Rightfielder Aaron Simmons opened the inning with an RBI double to score the automatic runner before Scanlon and Schroeder added RBI hits. Centerfielder Julian Boyd later delivered a two-run double near the left-field wall as the Boulders pushed across five runs to take an 11-6 lead.

Rodriguez said he embraces moments with pressure on the line.

“Honestly, like pressure makes diamonds, you know, I mean, you know, they all say pressure burst pipes, but if you, if you’re really locked into the moment, and now I thrive off that, I thrive off the big moments, and I love it, you know what I mean,” Rodriguez said.

The Jackals managed one run in the bottom half on a wild pitch that scored automatic runner Martin Figueroa, but reliever Andrew Armstrong closed out the game to secure the victory for New York.

Bellony led the Jackals offensively with three hits, while Hall added two hits. Stuart drove in two runs and Gomez finished with a two-run homer.

Cooper led the way for the Boulders after allowing four earned runs over six innings while striking out six and walking five.

Boyd finished with three RBIs for New York, while Schroeder collected two hits and two RBIs. Hess, Scanlon and McClure each recorded two hits, and Tauken added two RBIs.

Despite the loss, the Jackals remained confident in the clubhouse afterward.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence in each other… we root for each other each and every day,” Rodriguez said.

“It’s the same same mentality every single day. We’re going to go in there, fill up the zone, try and get outs and put up zeros for our offense, and keep stacking up runs,” Rodriguez added.

Stuart echoed a similar sentiment following the loss.

“Just to come out and keep playing our ball game, because you know we played very good today. It’s just you don’t always win every single game, so for us it’s just riding on the momentum that we already have, and just playing the ball game that we know that we’re capable of.”

With the loss, New Jersey fell to 10-7 on the season, snapping a three-game winning streak and dropping a half-game behind the Boulders in the Atlantic East Division standings.

The Jackals return to action Sunday at 2:05 p.m. against the Boulders at Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey.