Old Bridge, NJ – The Jersey Barons hosted the Essex Bellnuts for a doubleheader today, the first time the two franchises have met on the diamond. The Barons were almost at full strength and with plenty of pitching for the double dip. Craig Tscherednikov got the start in game 1, and pitched a solid three innings as he continues to build up arm strength in the early stages of the season. Craig T. threw two scoreless innings to start, and should have gone three solid scoreless. But the tall righty was the victim of an opening error in the 3rd, which helped the Bellnuts score 2 runs with 2 outs. Tscherednikov would leave the game down 2-0, and with the Barons never tying the score, took the hard-luck loss on his record.

David Caruso came in relief to throw the middle innings of the ballgame. Caruso threw 1-2-3 innings in the 4th and 6th innings, and also was hurt by his defense in the 5th. A key error pro-longed that inning, allowing the Bellnuts to rally for 3 runs. The Baron defense ended up picking up Caruso with an inning-ending 9-3-2 putout at home, saving a run on a single. Andrew Brenneman closed the game for the Barons, pulling off a Houdini act by working around three singles to leave the sacks full without giving up a run.

The Baron bats were stymied by the Bellnuts starter until they started to rally in the 5th and 6th innings. DH Matt Nice led off the 5th by reaching on an error. LF Mario Spallarossa then drove him all the way home on a long double to right-center field. In the 6th, PH Aaron Kalb led off with a walk, and moved to 2nd on a single by Brenneman. LF Tom Greene hit his third single of the game, a shot up the middle that plated Kalb. 2B Chris Fucci then hit an infield single to the left side of the infield, loading up the bases. The Barons were only able to score one more run on a sacrifice fly by CF Matt Mazon, finishing the scoring for game 1 with a 5-3 Bellnut advantage.