Joe Phalon, 7/2023.
The Sussex County Miners begin a four-game series with the New Jersey Jackals Tuesday, August 1st, hoping to break through the log jam at the top of the Frontier League Eastern Division.
The 37-26 Miners headed into the July All-Star Break having ruled the division holding on to first place for the first half of the season.
But in the following two weeks they dropped to fourth place, 3.5 games behind the Tri-City Alley Cats of Troy, New York, who’ve won seven straight going into tonight.
Despite all this, the Miners have won eight of their last nine and have a chance to overtake the Jackals this week, beginning with a double-header at historic Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson.
After another game on the Jackals’ turf on Wednesday, both teams will return to Skylands Stadium for the fourth game.
After a come-from-behind win against the Gateway Grizzlies of Sauget, Illinois, on July 23rd, Miners Manager Chris Widger said he hoped that win would provide the boost the team needed.
7/2023.
“We were able to string those hits together,” Widger said. “We got the walks and then we got the big hits.”
That win, the third in a row, continued for five more wins until the Miners fell to the Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Aigles July 30th.
Despite the fall from first, which is more a reflection of opponents getting better than the Miners slipping—they do have that eight-game winning streak going for them—Widger said he is not shaking up the lineup.
“You know, we’ve stuck with pretty much the same team the whole year,” Widger said. “We played with very little change. They get along, they pull for each other and that’s the kind of thing you’re happy about. We may not have the biggest talent, but they play well together.”
Joe brings decades of journalism experience to the Ridge View Echo, covering everything from local school boards to the U.S. Supreme Court. A former National Law Journal editor and Columbia Law School press officer, he now enjoys telling community stories in Blairstown, where he lives with his wife, Rose, and their two dachshunds.
- Joe Phalon, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/joe-phalon-contributing-writer/
- Joe Phalon, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/joe-phalon-contributing-writer/
- Joe Phalon, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/joe-phalon-contributing-writer/
- Joe Phalon, Contributing Writerhttps://ridgeviewecho.com/author/joe-phalon-contributing-writer/
