Looking to bounce back after an extra-inning loss to the New York Boulders the night before, the New Jersey Jackals responded Sunday afternoon with an 8-5 victory at Hinchliffe Stadium to reclaim first place in the Frontier League Atlantic East Division.

After coming within inches of a walk-off home run in Saturday’s defeat, the Jackals secured the win against New York behind a breakout start from left-hander Jorge Benitez and a five-run second inning.

Benitez made his first start of the season for New Jersey and worked around trouble early.

After hitting leadoff hitter second baseman Kyle Hess with the second pitch of the game, Benitez settled in by striking out left fielder Aaron Simmons and third baseman Santino Rosso to strand runners on the corners and keep the Boulders scoreless in the opening inning.

New York starter Connor Godwin matched Benitez early, striking out Jackals right fielder Isaac Bellony and designated hitter Christian Hall before issuing a walk to second baseman Dante Stuart and escaping the inning.

The Boulders threatened again in the second after designated hitter Jack Scanlon was hit by a pitch and catcher John Schroeder walked to put two runners aboard with no outs. Benitez responded with two more strikeouts, including catching Hess looking to end the inning and preserve the scoreless game.

Despite allowing no hits through two innings, Benitez found himself pitching through constant pressure.

The Jackals offense broke through in the bottom of the second.

After shortstop Connor Maryniak reached on a dropped third strike and consecutive walks loaded the bases, center fielder Aldalay Kolokie crushed a grand slam over the right-center field wall to give New Jersey a 4-0 lead.

The inning continued to unravel for Godwin.

Hall later walked and Stuart drove a ball off the right-field fence, narrowly missing a home run, to score another run and extend the lead to 5-0.

Benitez carried the momentum into the third inning, striking out the side and bringing his total to seven strikeouts through three scoreless innings.

“Felt great, felt great. I’ve been just trying to attack the zone and I think I’m a pitcher they recognize me as a strikeout pitcher, so I know I got that power there. I just need to find the zone and that will happen,” Benitez said.

The Boulders finally broke through in the fourth inning after Rosso doubled down the third-base line for New York’s first hit of the afternoon.

Following another hit-by-pitch to Scanlon and an RBI single from center fielder Julian Boyd, Benitez exited after 3.2  innings. The left-hander allowed one earned run on two hits while striking out eight. Entering Sunday, Benitez had only nine strikeouts on the season.

Ryan Steinhauser entered in relief, but New York continued to apply pressure.

After Hess reached on an infield single and a throwing error by third baseman Felix Stevens allowed two more runs to score, the Boulders trimmed the deficit to 5-3 before Steinhauser struck out Simmons to limit further damage.

Godwin’s outing ended in the bottom half of the fourth after walking eight batters across 3.2 innings.

Anthony Leak entered in relief for New York and stabilized the game, retiring key hitters while keeping the Jackals off the board through the middle innings.

Steinhauser continued to settle in for New Jersey, tossing 2.2  innings while allowing just three hits and striking out four batters.

His curveball proved especially effective against the Boulders lineup.

The game tightened in the seventh inning.

After Hess singled and Simmons followed with a base hit, New York cut the lead to one on an RBI single from first baseman Jason Agresti against reliever Dosie Drakeford.

Rosso later tied the game at 5-5 with a soft groundout that brought Hess home from third.

Drakeford said his approach remained simple. “Just fill up the zone. It’s tough being my third outing against the same team, but all you can do is fill up the zone and try to limit the damage.” 

“Stick to whatever works. I had a lot of success and they still got to hit the ball,” he added.

The Jackals answered immediately in the bottom half of the inning.

Left fielder Martin Figueroa opened with a walk before Maryniak laid down a bunt that struck him and rolled away, allowing Figueroa to advance to third with no outs.

First baseman Dariel Gomez then jumped on the first pitch he saw, driving in the go-ahead run to put New Jersey back in front 6-5.

Later in the inning, Luis Encarnación delivered another clutch hit off the bench with an RBI single to center field, scoring Maryniak and extending the lead to 7-5. Over his last five games, Encarnación has driven in 12 runs.

JoJo Rodriguez entered in relief during the eighth inning and escaped a two-on jam by striking out Genther swinging to preserve the lead.

Left-hander Cobe Reeves kept the game within reach for New York in the eighth, but the Jackals bullpen closed the door in the ninth.

Rodriguez opened the inning with back-to-back walks before manager Bobby Jones turned to closer Malik Binns with no outs.

Binns responded by retiring Rosso and Scanlon before freezing Schroeder with a curveball for the final out of the game, securing the 8-5 victory and the save.

With the win, the Jackals are now 11-7 on the season and move back into first place in the Atlantic East Division by a half-game over the Boulders.

New Jersey will look to secure the home series victory Monday morning, June 1, at 10:35 a.m.