Wilmington Falters In 12-1 Loss To Hudson Valley

WILMINGTON, DE - The Wilmington Blue Rocks (10-19) were defeated by the Hudson Valley Renegades (19-9) by a final score of 12-1 on Wednesday, May 7 at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium.

Blue Rocks’ starting pitcher Travis Sthele got himself into an immediate jam in the top of the first inning, as Brendan Jones hit a leadoff single on the first pitch of the game and Roc Riggio followed that up with a walk. However, after a sharp line out to third for the first out, Rocks catcher Caleb Farmer gunned down Riggio at second on a stolen base attempt, eventually leading to a scoreless top half of the opening frame.

Wilmington was able to take advantage of the escaped jam in the bottom of the first, as Marcus Brown led off the inning with a double. Then, after advancing to third on a passed ball, T.J. White poked a fly ball to center field deep enough to score Brown from third and give the Rocks an early 1-0 lead.

That lead was secure until the top of the fourth inning, where Hudson Valley blew the game wide open to the tune of five runs. It was kickstarted by Coby Morales, who doubled to score Jackson Castillo and tie things at one. Then, after an RBI single by Brenny Escanio to score Morales, Josh Moylan ripped a double to right field scoring both Escanio and Omar Martinez to extend the lead to 4-1. The cherry on top of the inning came in the very next at-bat, as Jones singled to center to score Moylan.

Things remained the same in the top of the fifth, as Martinez made his mark on the game by roping a two-RBI double to center, scoring Morales and Parks Harber to extend the lead to six.

After adding one more in the top of the seventh, Martinez kept the train rolling in the eighth by absolutely crushing a three-run home run over the visitors bullpen in right field to put the exclamation point on the contest, making it 11-1. An RBI single by Castillo in the top of the ninth secured the 12-1 final.

Sthele struggled on the mound in his sixth start of the year, lasting 4 ⅔ innings while allowing 10 hits and seven runs. Marc Davis didn’t find much success out of the ‘pen, allowing four hits and four runs in two innings of work. The Rocks mustered up just two hits on the evening off the bat of Brown and White.

With this six-game series now tied at one game apiece, the Blue Rocks will look to bounce back and take a series lead tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 6:35 p.m.