Sports

Boulders Blast 3 Homers in Opening Night Victory

Boulders stop Newark Bears, 6-4, with strong outing on the mound by Briarcliff's Bobby Blevins.

Chris Edmondson, Stephen Cardullo and Donnie Webb homered and Bobby Blevins turned in a strong outing on the mound as the Boulders won their 2013 season opener from the Newark Bears, 6-4, at Provident Bank Park in Pomona.

Newark struck first against Blevins in the first inning, Carlos Guzman's two-out double brought in D'Angelo Jimenez to give the Bears the early lead. Rockland wasted little time in responding, pushing across a pair in the bottom half.

With two out and nobody on, Newark starter Mike Ness walked Jerod Edmondson on four pitches, and brother Chris gave his team the lead after drilling an 0-1 offering out of the park to right. Webb led off the bottom of the third with another blast, putting Rockland up by a 3-1 count.

Rockland would go deep against Ness again to lead off the fourth, with John Welch hitting the opposite-field bleachers to make the score 4-1. Meanwhile, Blevins kept the visitors off the board until they chipped away with a run in the fifth.

Brandon Mims singled with one out and stole second, coming around on D'Angelo Jiminez' two-out single to trim the margin to 4-2. Once again the hosts would respond, with Jerod Edmondson's sac fly bringing in Stephen Cardullo for a 5-2 edge.

The Boulders escaped major damage in the seventh on what will likely prove to be one of the wildest plays of the entire season. With one out, Brandon Mims and Brandon Newton singled to put runners on first and second. Jimenez followed with a double into the right field corner, but Mims stumbled and both runners rounded third almost simlutaneously. Mike Gedmon's throw to the plate was snared by catcher Scott Knazek, who reached back to tag the first runner, Mims, but on the follow-through was unable to tag Newton, who scored to make the score 5-3.

That spelled the end of Blevins' night, but Nick Serino came on to finish the inning. Newark battled for another run in the eighth on Kyle Lafrenz' RBI single with two out bringing home Jamar Walton. Alex Kreis would finish that inning, allowing the Boulders to tack on another in the eighth as Cardullo's run-scoring single brought in Chris Edmondson to account for the final run.

Kevin Fuqua worked a scoreless ninth for the save, with Blevins taking the opening night win and Ness getting tagged with the loss. 

The remainder of this series moves to Newark, with the Boulders will tangle with the Bears on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before enjoying next Monday and Tuesday off. They return to Provident Bank Park next Wednesday, May 22 to play their first games against the expansion Trois-Rivieres Aigles. Game time is set for 10:30 a.m. on Anti-Bullying day and tickets are available at the box office or online at www.rocklandboulders.com.


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