Wilmington Falls Short In 11-Inning Barnburner, 13-10

The Wilmington Blue Rocks rallied back a few different times, but fell short to the Hudson Valley Renegades by a score of 13-10 in 11 innings on Wednesday, May 1.

Jared Serna opened the scoring for Hudson Valley in the third with a two-run home run on the third pitch of his at-bat. Wilmington responded in their half of the third, which was the theme of the night, loading the bases up against Renegades’ starter Jackson Fristoe to open the inning. Maxwell Romero Jr. grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Phillip Glasser, and then Branden Boissiere brought home Daylen Lile to tie the game at two.

The score would remain knotted at two until the fifth. After Trey Harris III walked to leadoff the inning, TJ White brought him home with a no-doubt two-run home run over the right field fence to give Wilmington the 4-2 advantage.

But just like the Blue Rocks did in the third, the Renegades responded in the top half of the sixth with back-to-back home runs on back-to-back pitches to even the score up at four.

Both teams weren’t done scoring. After Roc Riggio singled to open the seventh, Serna blasted his second two-run home run of the night into deep left field to give the Renegades a 6-4 lead and they tacked on a key insurance run in the eighth after Josh Moylan brought home Omar Martinez, who led off the inning with a walk.

The Blue Rocks kept fighting though. With one out in the inning and Kevin Made and Harris on base, Boissiere crushed a ball over the right-center field wall to tie it up at seven.

Kiko Romero got the scoring started in extras with a single up the middle to score Cole Gabrielson, who was pinch-running for Rafael Flores. From there, Serna crushed his third two-run home run of the night, this time with two outs, down the left field line to give the Renegades a 10-7 lead.

Wilmington matched the three-run tenth inning though, keeping hope alive for a potential comeback. Lile drove home the first run with an RBI single, and then Harris scored Glasser to trim the deficit to one. With two outs, Lile tied the game after a wild pitch from Renegades’ reliever Steven Fulgencio.

Hudson Valley, once again, put up a three-spot in the 11th inning, which proved to be the difference in the game. Martinez hit an RBI single to put the Renegades’ in front, and then back-to-back RBI walks from Nelson Medina and Roc Riggio provided the game’s final margin.

Branden Boissiere led the Rocks at the plate, going 3-5 with 4 RBI. White (2), Romero (1), Harris (1), and Lile (1) all recorded an RBI as well.

The two teams will square off once again tomorrow, Thursday, May 2, for the third game of this six-game series. Hudson Valley currently holds the 2-0 advantage.

Marlon Perez had a good sixth inning in relief of Caceres, but he fell apart in the seventh, giving up five hits and five runs before departing and being replaced by Dannel Diaz. Diaz couldn’t stop the barrage either, giving up five hits and four runs and only recording one out. After the nine-run sixth inning, the score was 12-2 and the game was essentially over.

The Blue Rocks gave up 19 hits, a recipe that is never going to craft a successful night. A 12-2 Renegades win was the final in Wilmington tonight.