Bo Budkevics, coming off a 5 inning 3 hit debut, picked up right where he left off Saturday night earning his first win of the season. The Nassau County native tossed six innings of two run baseball and left the game with a comfortable four run lead. The bullpen did what it has been doing all year to this point with another clean outing, giving up only one run over 3 innings of work. However the focus of the game was stolen by the thunderous bats of the Boulders.
The Boulders connected for five homeruns this evening. The first came from Cody Regis in the bottom of the second inning to break a 1-1 tie, and the Boulders would not look back from there. In the bottom of the 4th, Captain and veteran backstop Marcus Nidiffer took a healthy hack and sent a ball deep off the scoreboard in left field for a 2 run bomb. Then an inning later, after making a fantastic diving catch in foul territory to end the top half, Jon Smith sent one over the big wall in right-center to break the tie with teammate Joe Maloney for the lead league in homeruns with four. Smith was the sole leader for less than an inning as in the very next inning Joe Maloney connected with a ball that still hasn’t landed yet.
His first homerun off a 2-0 count in the 6th inning that shut the entire stadium down. Maloney hit an absolute moonshot over every fence, seat, and sign in the ballpark. The ball disappeared into the night sky out of Palisades Credit Union Park. Then in his final at bat of the night in the bottom of the 8th inning, Maloney sent one deep over the left field fence again, this time for a three run shot and sole possession of the league lead in home runs. The homerun also put Maloney in sole possession of the RBI league lead with fourteen. After the game Maloney credited the Boulder faithful for filling the seats on a Saturday night and creating some energy for him and his teammates.
The hot start for Maloney is no surprise in his return to the Boulders. The Limestone College grad spent last year in the Minnesota Twins organization after a Can-Am Player of the Year campaign in 2015 where he batted .337 with 33 doubles, 14 home runs, and 83 runs batted in. His return has made a huge difference in the Boulders lineup and his presence in the middle of the lineup has allowed other Boulder’s in the lineup to benefit from better pitches to hit. Not to mention his transition from the outfield to first base has been nearly flawless.
After the Boulders’ win Maloney stated, “It feels great to get back on the winning side of things here at home in front of these amazing fans. We didn’t lose any confidence after our two game slide, just looking forward to winning again.”