South Amboy, NJ – Interdivisional rivals this season in the Mel Ott League, the Union Knights visited the Jersey Barons for a doubleheader on a gorgeous May day on the Raritan Bay waterfront. The Knights and Barons have been friendly rivals over the past few years, often scrimmaging in the pre-season. But this would be the first regular season match-up between the two long-established franchises since 2005, when both teams were in the Roy Campanella AAA. Now the two storied teams will battle for the same division title in the Ott, playing two games today with a third down the road, three games that are sure to make waves in the final standings come August.

The Barons gave the ball to one of their aces for game 1, Craig Tscherednikov, while the Knights countered with their fireballer, Sean O’Brien. Both teams would get on the sticks early, with the Knights taking a 6-4 advantage after three innings. The Barons thought they would get more off O’Brien after he took a line drive off a screaming Tom Greene would-be single up the middle in the third, and then gave up a 2-run home run to 2B Chris Fucci two batters later. But O’Brien would settle down impressively, holding the Barons to one run over the final four innings and showing no ill effects of the ball back up the box.

In the top of the 5th, the Knights would extend their lead to 9-4 on a clutch 3-run, 2-out home run by RF Julio Reyes. The homer was deep to left field, and proved to be the crushing blow with the way O’Brien was dealing. The Baron defense did not support Tscherednikov after that, committing three errors that led to two more unearned runs. Both teams ended up with five errors on the day, but the Baron bats were not able to capitalize in the same way as the Knights.

The Knights ended up taking game 1 by an 11-5 score, and the Barons would need a strong effort in game 2 to salvage the day.

Game Notes:

• Chris Jeffray made his debut on the hill for the Barons, throwing a solid inning in relief.

• Newly signed 3B Matt Eggert made his Baron debut, with an impressive two hits and two RBI in four at-bats. Eggert hit the ball hard all four times. The burly righty will likely move up fast in the Baron lineup as a consistent source of power along with the steady Chris Fucci.