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Jackals display offensive fireworks

Baseball, Featured, New Jersey Jackals, Professional

June 20, 2023

PATERSON -- Talk about apropos.

Monday night was Fireworks Night at Hinchliffe Stadium, and on cue, the Jackals lighted up the scoreboard by putting up eight runs, including a pair of three-run innings, in their 8-1 victory over the 8-25 Empire State Greys.

“We have scored 15 or more runs in several games,” first-year Jackals manager P.J. Phillips replied when asked if this was the highest output of this season. “We have a lineup from up and down that can score. Everybody in the lineup contributed to this win.”

For the record, the Jackals (21-12) scored double-digit runs 10 times this season.

They got it going in the first inning when Ti’Quan Forbes hit a leadoff single, and he followed it up by stealing second and third. He scored on Keon Barnum’s RBI ground out.

“Ti’Quan knows how to get us going,” Phillips said of his shortstop. “He is a great leadoff hitter. He gets on base and puts the offense in motion."

Rusber Estrada hit a three-run home run in the second inning, extending the Jackals’ lead to 4-0 after Josh Rehwaldt and Alfredo Marte singled to start the inning.

“He’s been hot in the last few weeks,” Phillips said of his catcher's three-hit, five-RBI performance. “He’s one of the best hitting catchers in the league (Frontier League)."

The home team took a 5-0 lead in the fourth inning when Jordan Howard hit into a double play that scored Rehwaldt, who worked out a walk to start the inning along with Marte hitting a double and Estrada getting on base with a walk that would load the bases.

The Jackals put up another three-run inning in the sixth, giving them an 8-0 lead in the sixth inning, which included Estrada hitting an RBI double after Rehwaldt doubled and Marte walked.

Jackals ace and former Major League starter Vin Mazzaro pitched effectively in keeping the Greys off-balance for most of the night. He allowed no runs on three hits in six innings while striking out nine.

Mazzaro worked out of a jam in the fourth inning. With Jhoendri Herrera on second after getting on base with a walk to start the inning and Josh Sears at first on a single, Jordan Scott struck out, Cristopher Cespedes flied out and J.R. DiSarcina grounded out to end Empire State’s threat.

“Vin is an ace,” Phillips said. “The game is not too big for him. He knows what he is doing out there. He knows how to manipulate hitters to get outs. He knows how to get young hitters out.”

Yuichi Shiota pitched three innings in relief to earn a save. He gave up a run on three hits while striking out three.

The Greys scored their lone run of the game in the seventh inning when Eric Jenkins hit a two-out RBI single after Luis Atiles hit a double.

The Jackals don’t have the record they have by accident. This is a team that developed an identity with a lineup that is diversified whether it’s playing small ball or long ball. They lead the Frontier League with 59 home runs. They have won 13 of 14, and they have shown no signs of slowing down anytime soon. In fact, they can be even better

“Our lineup is finally healthy,” Phillips said after the Jackals navigated some injuries to start the season. “Now we need guys to get into a rhythm that will have them keep hitting.”

Notes

The Jackals hosted the only game on the Frontier League schedule on the Juneteenth National Independence Day holiday on Monday mainly because of Hinchliffe Stadium’s history as one of the last remaining ballparks in America that hosted Negro League games in the 1930s and 1940s.

Larry Doby’s Baseball Hall of Fame plaque from Cooperstown was on display at Hinchliffe Stadium during the game as a celebration of the Paterson native, who was the first African-American American League player and second African-American player ever to play Major League Baseball.

The Jackals are at home from now until July 3 for a 13-game homestand. They will be back on the road on July 4 when they play division rival Sussex County Miners at Augusta.