Boulders 9th-inning rally falls short against Jackals

The Boulders fell short of tying the ballgame in the bottom of the ninth inning and suffered a 5-4 loss to the New Jersey Jackals Tuesday night in Can-Am League action.

The Boulders rallied in the ninth to end an 18-inning scoreless streak with four runs.  Trailing five runs, the Boulders had the bases loaded with two outs and Ryan Mollica at the plate.  Mollica doubled in two runs to keep the hope alive.  Ryde Rodriguez followed with a hard ground ball down the third-base line that scored two more, but he was gunned down trying to advance to second to end the game.

The first runs of the game were not scored until the fourth inning, and belonged to the New Jersey Jackals.  After only recording one hit in the first three innings, the Jackals put together three in the fourth that led to two runs.  With two outs, Nick Santomauro drove a ball to deep right field, but Rodriguez leaped and reached over the short porch to rob him of a home run and end the inning.

In the top of the sixth, Kris Sanchez hit a ball that was too high for Rodriguez to rob for a two-run homer into the short porch to give New Jersey a 4-0 lead.

Pitching in the eighth inning, Rockland reliever Brett Carroll balked with runners on the corners to plate Mike Jones and give the Jackals a 5-0 lead.

The Boulders were finally able to get on the board in the ninth.  Four hits in the inning produced four runs, but Rodriguez ended the game trying to take second base.  All four runs were unearned because Cristobal Santana reached on an error earlier in the inning.

On the bright side for the Boulders, Norm Hutchins went a solid 3-for-3 with a run scored in Tuesday evening’s contest for his first set of hits since he returned to Rockland.  He also played well in centerfield in place of the injured Barry Wesson.

The Boulders (1-2, 20-29) go to Yogi Berra Stadium in Upper Montclair, NJ, today to play a matinee game with the Jackals scheduled for 11:05 a.m.

Will Hassett (2-4) will make his second start for the Boulders Wednesday morning.  He will go head-to-head with New Jersey’s Jon Kibler (0-2).