Close Call: Renegades fall in 6-5 walk off at Aberdeen
Aberdeen, Md. (May 11, 2024) — After a two-hour, 41-minute rain delay before the start, the Aberdeen IronBirds outlasted the Hudson Valley Renegades 6-5 in a walk-off victory in eight innings. Aberdeen opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, after Enrique Bradfield walked, reached second on a sacrifice
Aberdeen, Md. (May 11, 2024) — After a two-hour, 41-minute rain delay before the start, the Aberdeen IronBirds outlasted the Hudson Valley Renegades 6-5 in a walk-off victory in eight innings.
Aberdeen opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, after Enrique Bradfield walked, reached second on a sacrifice bunt, and was driven home on an RBI single by Matthew Etzel against Kyle Carr.
In the fourth, Douglas Hodo walked and stole second. An RBI single by Randy Florentino brought in Hodo to make it a 2-0 game. Carr settled in nicely, striking out a career-high seven across 4.0 innings.
Hudson Valley scored four runs in the fifth to take the lead on a rally coming entirely with two outs. Jared Serna walked, and Jace Avina also reached on a base on balls. A double by Jesus Rodriguez scored the two runners to tie the game. Rafael Flores doubled later in the inning to drive in Rodriguez, and Beau Brewer scored on a wild pitch making it a 4-2 lead.
In the sixth, Mac Horvath reached on an infield single. He then stole second, and Hodo reached on a dropped third strike, allowing Horvath to advance to third. After a steal by Hodo, Florentino drove in both runners with a two-run single. An error by Nelson Medina advanced Florentino to second. Adam Retzbach singled in Florentino to put the IronBirds in front 5-4.
The Renegades tied the game in the seventh, beginning the frame with a Brewer single. Rafael Flores doubled to put runners at second and third, and pinch-runner Kyle Battle scored on a balk to tie the score at 5-5. Flores was 2-for-3 in the game with a pair of doubles, a walk, and an RBI.
With the game having been shortened to seven innings due to the delay at the start, the contest went into extras. In the bottom of the eighth, the automatic runner Horvath stole third, and a throwing error by catcher Juan Crisp on the attempt allowed him to come in and score the winning run.
Aberdeen has won the first five games of the series and sent Hudson Valley to a season-long seven game losing streak.
The Renegades and IronBirds will close out a six-game series tomorrow afternoon at 2:05, with the Heritage Financial Credit Union Pregame Show beginning at 1:45. Ben Shields (1-1, 2.41) will start for Hudson Valley, while Moises Chace (1-0, 1.23) will go for Aberdeen.