Gades Greatness: Counting down top 12 moments of 2024, #9-7

As we have hit the final month of the 2024 calendar, the time has come for our annual review of the Top 12 moments from the previous Hudson Valley Renegades season. The 2024 season was one of the most-memorable seasons in the 30 years of Renegades baseball, so much so that moments like Jackson Castillo's seven-RBI game, D.J. LeMahieu's MLB rehab, and Rascal & Rosie's wedding didn't make the cut.

If you missed the first part of the countdown, you can read the article here.

12. Single-Game Attendance Record Broken Twice

11. Rafael Flores Becomes All-Time Hit King

10. Moving On To The Championship Series Once Again

9. Trent Sellers Dominates in July

Trent Sellers began the year as a valuable member of the Renegades bullpen, frequently throwing multiple innings and shutting down opponents with an array of pitches that kept opponents guessing. When Ben Shields was promoted to Double-A Somerset in early July, Sellers was moved from the bullpen into the starting rotation and he took his season to the next level.

He started the month by allowing one run and one hit across 2.1 innings at Brooklyn on July 3, and gave up one unearned run on one hit and two walks across 3.1 innings out of the bullpen at Jersey Shore on July 9. He made his first start of the year in the final game before the All-Star Break on July 14 at the BlueClaws, and after he hit leadoff man Erick Brito with a pitch, he settled down to retire the next nine batters in a row to end his day.

That was the start of a special run for Sellers, who was signed by the Yankees as a non-drafted free agent out of Oregon State University in 2023. He threw 3.0 perfect innings out of the bullpen on July 19 against Rome in the first Renegades no-hitter of the season, and followed that up with 3.2 perfect innings in a start on July 24 at Wilmington. By the time he allowed a fourth inning single to Zach Arnold of Jersey Shore on July 30, Sellers had retired an amazing 35 consecutive batters. He went 30.2 innings without allowing an earned run from June 25 through August 11 (Game 2).

He was named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month for July, leading all qualified full-season MiLB pitchers in ERA (0.00), Opponent's Batting Average (.067) and WHIP (0.41) in six games while striking out 24 and walking four and allowing four hits. Sellers allowed just two earned runs across his last 46.1 innings of the season (beginning June 25), good for a 0.38 ERA.

8. The Juan Crisp Game - Craziness in Greensboro

Catcher Juan Crisp with a K! pic.twitter.com/c037fAefvZ

— Hudson Valley Renegades (@HVRenegades) June 23, 2024

The Renegades' first trip to Greensboro since 2022 was a memorable one, but not always for the right reasons. After losing the first five games of the series, the 'Gades faced being swept in a six-game series for the first time in team history. At the beginning of the Sunday series finale on June 23 things looked bleak. Already short-handed on pitching, starting pitcher Jackson Fristoe exited the game with one out in the bottom of the first inning with an injury which ultimately ended his season.

The Renegades fell behind 1-0, but took a 4-1 lead in the top of the fourth on back-to-back home runs by Garrett Martin and Josh Moylan. The offense continued to have a strong performance as Hudson Valley led 9-4 after the sixth. Joel Valdez, who had just thrown 42 pitches two days earlier, faced two batters in the bottom of the seventh: striking out Maikol Escotto and walking Mitch Jebb before departing the game due to his pitch count. With the team out of available pitchers, reserve catcher Juan Crisp was summoned from the bullpen to pitch.

Crisp immediately allowed a home run to Jack Brannigan to cut the lead to 9-6, but retired the side after that, including a strikeout of Josiah Sightler. After two walks in the bottom of the eighth, Crisp allowed a game-tying, three-run homer to Luke Brown which cleared the wall in right field, and hit the apartment building on the other side of the street on the fly.

In the top of the ninth, Martin and Moylan hit back-to-back home runs for the second time in the game to give the Renegades a 12-9 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Crisp struck out Hudson Head and Sightler, who was so frustrated he broke his bat over his leg, before walking P.J. Hilson. South Atlantic League home run champion Shawn Ross flew out to left field to end the game and give Crisp a win across 2.2 innings. The wild victory made Crisp the first Renegades position player to win a game as a pitcher in team history.

Bo Jackson is that you??? (Wait for it) pic.twitter.com/2ghWvkW1Xl

— Hudson Valley Renegades (@HVRenegades) June 23, 2024

7. Doubleheader Sweep Of Wilmington On August 22

Over the past three seasons, doubleheaders had been an Achilles' Heel of the Renegades. On Thursday, August 22, the Renegades played a twin bill with the Wilmington Blue Rocks at Heritage Financial Park as part of a seven-game series (more from that series as the countdown continues), and won both games, the team's first doubleheader sweep since April 27, 2022.

Game one was a strong come-from-behind win. Wilmington took an early 3-0 lead before Garrett Martin tied the game with a three-run home run in the bottom of the third. 18-year-old catcher Edison Vivas drove in two runs later in the game in his second career game outside of the Dominican Summer League, and the bullpen held off a late Blue Rocks charge to take the first game 7-6.

In the second game, Trent Sellers took the mound and fired 4.2 hitless innings while striking out five and allowing just one baserunner. This time it was the 'Gades who scored first, with Martin whacking another three-run home run in the bottom of the first off Wander Arias. He added another home run -- his third of the day -- as part of a four-run fourth inning to give the Renegades a 6-0 advantage.

After Sellers exited the game, Mason Vinyard and Thomas Balboni, Jr. finished off the final 2.1 innings of the no-hitter. Wilmington only managed one baserunner in the game, coming in the second inning. It was the second no-hitter thrown by the Renegades in a five-week span, and the fourth in franchise history. The team left that doubleheader feeling invincible and with a two-game lead for first place in the SAL North.

Check back next week as we continue the countdown with moments 6-4!