Little Falls, NJ -- Upon returning home from a Memorial Day weekend road trip to Washington, the New Jersey Jackals (6-9), opened up conference play against a familiar foe in the Trois-Rivieres Aigles (8-8). The two teams have been in the same league since the latter’s inception in 2013, but due to the Canadian boarder restrictions last season the clubs did not face off in 2021, making this their first matchup within the Frontier League. Unfortunately for the Jackals, they dropped this momentous contest by a score of 12-4.

The Aigles got off to a red-hot start to the game, scoring 11 unanswered runs in the first through fifth innings, including three innings in a row of three runs. Right fielder Steve Brown continued to mash baseballs for the Canadian side, going three for five on the day with a pair of doubles, a home run, and a team-leading four RBI. Joe Campagna also joined the three-hit club, and scoring three runs along the way.

Though they scored just four runs, the Jackals did so in a loud way, with three solo shots including a pair off the bat of newcomer George Bell Jr. The second Bell home run was immediately preceded by catcher Jason Agresti’s first dinger of the season, giving New Jersey back-to-back home runs to put the home crowd on their feet.

Jared Milch picked up his second loss of the season, going 3.2 innings in his third start of the young season. Pitching in relief later in the game was Nicholas Marcon, who joined the team during the Washington series, spinning a scoreless frame in his lone road appearance back on Sunday. He then followed that up today with a pair of perfect innings against a potent Trois-Rivieres lineup.

As for the Aigles arms, two-way phenom David Gauthier had a no-hitter going until the bottom of the sixth inning, where he lost not only that bid, but the shutout as well on Bell’s first moonshot. Gauthier ended with a final line of seven innings pitched, surrendering four runs, all earned, on five hits, three walks and five strikeouts.

These teams will meet again for game two of the series on Wednesday, June 1st at 7:05pm Eastern Time. You can get your tickets on jackals.com or follow all the action on mixlr.com/njjackals for the audio broadcast, or watch the game on FloSports.

Photo Credit: Phil Hoops

Reporting By: Zack Smolen, Assistant Director of Press Box and Media Relations