The Newark Pilots (26-20) continue to make a strong bid for a playoff berth with a 7-1 win over Adirondack on Tuesday night at Colburn Park. Newark has won all five contests over the Trailblazers this summer and currently sit in third place in the West division with a one game advantage over the Jamestown Jammers.

“These games are really important at this point,” Pilots head coach Chris Edmondson said after the victory. 

“Jamestown and Victor are right behind us and we’re trying to keep them at bay. We just need to take it one game at a time from here on out.”

Chris Sharpe (UMass-Lowell) got the scoring started for the Pilots with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the second. Sharpe would then score on a single from Jon Schafer (Santa Clara), one of his two hits on the day, to put Newark up 3-0.

Sam Harrington (Itawamba C.C.) got the start for the Pilots and pitched brilliantly after getting roughed in his last start vs. Saugerties. Harrington’s only blemish was a bloop-single from Justin Lebek (Davidson) that scored a run in the bottom of the third.

Other than that Harrington was flawless, tossing six innings of one-run ball to earn his second victory of the summer.

“He competed pretty well today,” Edmondson said. “He was staying down in the zone and throwing a lot of strikes. He got a lot of swings and misses with off-speed as well.”

Harrington received more run support in the fourth inning after Sharpe led off with a triple into the right field corner. Sharpe would then score on groundball from Schafer for his second RBI of the day to make the score 4-1.

“I was looking for anything around the zone,” Sharpe said of multi-hit day. “Lately I’ve been thinking a lot and trying to guess what pitch to hit, but [tonight] I was thinking if it’s around the zone I might as well swing it.”

Darian Herncane (Binghamton) then drove home two with a double and Chase Cockrell (Ole Miss) would follow that with an RBI single to score the Pilots seventh and final run of the game.

Newark’s bullpen was near-flawless tonight allowing just one hit in the final three innings of the game with Cameron Hoos (DeSales), Jacob Hendricks (Saginaw Valley State) and Xan Reese (Northeast Miss. C.C.) each throwing a scoreless inning.

The Pilots will take on Adirondack again on Thursday at Colburn Park after both teams have an off-day on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.