Wild Ride: Gades pull out 16-10 win in extras at GBO

GREENSBORO, N.C. (June 19, 2022) – A seven-run explosion in the 11th inning led the Hudson Valley Renegades to a wild 16-10 victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers on Sunday afternoon at First National Bank Field.

The Renegades hit four home runs in the game, including two in the 11th, when they sent 10 batters to the plate en route to victory. Seven Hudson Valley pitchers combined for 18 strikeouts, tying a season-high.

A wacky game began with the Renegades taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a two-run home run by Tyler Hardman off Domingo Gonzalez. Hardman would ultimately finish 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, two runs scored, three RBIs and a walk. The Gades tacked on two more in the fourth to take a 4-0 advantage.

Greensboro rallied to tie the game up against T.J. Sikkema, with Ernny Ordonez hitting a three-run home run to right to level the score in the fourth. Sikkema lasted 3.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits, one walk and one strikeout while throwing a career-high 58 pitches.

Hardman put the Renegades back in front with an RBI single in the top of the fifth, but the Grasshoppers rallied for three unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 7-5 lead.

Aaron Palensky led off the eighth with a solo home run to cut the deficit to 7-6, and with the Renegades down to their final strike in the top of the ninth, Hardman doubled and scored on a Spencer Henson single to tie the game.

In the 10th, Pat DeMarco drove in Cristian Perez with the go-ahead run and scored when Eduardo Torrealba reached on an error to put Hudson Valley in front 9-7. However, Ordonez hit a game-tying two-run homer off Miller in the bottom of the 10th to tie the game again.

In the 11th, Everson Pereira doubled to score Anthony Seigler to give the Renegades the lead, and then the flood gates opened. Cristian Perez and Palensky collected RBI singles, Carlos Narvaez hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run to right center, and Cooper Bowman also hit a two-run homer to put the Gades up 16-9.

Pereira finished 4-for-7 with two doubles, three runs scored and two RBIs. It was his second four-hit game of the series.

In the bottom of the 11th, Greensboro scored a run off Nelson Alvarez, who closed out the game for the win.

Hudson Valley enjoys a day off on Monday before beginning a six-game series with the Winston-Salem Dash on Tuesday night at Truist Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m., with coverage on the Renegades Baseball Network beginning at 6:45.

POSTGAME NOTES: Narvaez’s pinch-hit home run is the second pinch-hit home run for Hudson Valley this season, joining Tyler Hardman (5/12 vs Aberdeen). Those are the only two pinch-hit home runs hit by the Renegades in the Portal Era (2005 – Present)… Charlie Ruegger picked up the win, his eighth in a Renegades uniform. He is now second on the Renegades all-time relief wins list, trailing Mike Venafro (1995).