Jackals Open Home Schedule With Series Sweep

The New Jersey Jackals opened up their 2016 home schedule sitting at 4-4. A series sweep of the Trois-Rivieres Aigles (Three-Rivers Eagles) helped propel them to only half a game out of first place. The series began this past Friday with “Yogi Berra night”, honoring the late Mr. Berra whom the Jackals field is also named after. Fan interaction events such as Yogi Berra Trivia were strung between innings and added to the excitement for the Jackals’ young season.

Friday’s matchup featured a matchup between RHP Matt Loosen for the Jackals and RHP Charles Gillies for the Aigles. The Jackals wasted no time putting their offense on display for their home crowd, they struck in the bottom of the first as shortstop Ryan Sandoval knocked in a run with a timely double.

Jackals’ defense showed early rust as a passed ball was followed by a sharply hit line drive to CF was misplayed by Richardson and lead to a 2 RBI triple for Eagles leftfielder Sam Judah, which tied the game at 2 in the top of the third. However the Eagles returned the favor in the bottom of the third as a misplayed base hit to RF became an RBI triple for the Jackals Art Charles.

Heading into the 6th it was 6-2 for the Jackals, and another extra base hit for Ryan Sandoval in the bottom of the sixth put the finishing touches on the game making it 7-2, which would end up the final.
Saturday’s game was suspended in the 7th inning due to rain and thunder storms in the area. The Jackals trailed 3-2 in the 7th when the action was put on hold. The game picked up Sunday afternoon and ended in dramatic fashion. The Jackals rallied in bottom of the 9th to score two runs and walk it off in front of an excited Memorial Day weekend crowd.

Putting the icing on the cake the Jackals offense showed their muscles in the full game Sunday evening rolling over the Eagles 6-0. A 3-run homer from Vaughn and Rockett’s second dinger of the series put 4 of the Jackals runs on the board. The final two RBI’s came from Dvontrey Richardson.

Dustin Lawley and John Walter were named Can-Am League Players of the week. Lawley was 4/11 on the weekend with 3 runs scored and an RBI. While Walter pitched a strong 7 innings Sunday evening with 5 strikeouts to go along with only 1 walk. Walter gave up a mere 3 hits over his 7 innings of work and didn’t allow a run.

Due to a weather issue within the stadium, Monday night’s Memorial Day game was postponed to a make Tuesday a double-header. First pitch of game one Tuesday will be 5:00pm at Yogi Berra Stadium.