AUGUSTA, N.J. (June 19, 2026) – The Down East Bird Dawgs could never recover from an Evan Berkey grand slam in the first inning, falling 7-3 to the Sussex County Miners Friday night in the series opener, dropping Down East to 16-21 as Sussex County now leads the season series 7-3.

Berkey's slam staked Sussex County to an early 4-0 lead before the Bird Dawgs began chipping away in the sixth as Colby Backus doubled in a run and Christian Adams added an RBI groundout to cut it to 4-2.

The Miners answered immediately in the bottom half, scoring three runs on a Mahki Backstrom solo homer, a Kiko Romero RBI double, and a Sandro Gaston sacrifice fly to push the lead to 7-2.

Down East mounted one final push in the ninth when Trey Law walked with the bases loaded to make it 7-3, but the Bird Dawgs left the bases loaded to end the threat.

Spencer Johnston (4-2) took the loss, allowing seven runs on six hits over six innings with five strikeouts and two walks.

Rob Hensey (3-4) earned the win for Sussex County, allowing two runs on five hits over seven innings with seven strikeouts and no walks. Parker Primeaux closed it out with a single pitch in the ninth to force a game-ending groundout and collect his third save of the season.

The Bird Dawgs (16-21) look to bounce back Saturday, June 20, at 6:35 p.m. ET against the Miners.