Not Pretty, But It Works

 Despite being easily outhit and committing more errors, the Hudson Valley Renegades scored three runs without the benefit of a hit in a wild first inning propelling them to a 4-3 win Friday night at Dutchess Stadium in front of 4,525 fans. 

WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY- Despite being easily outhit and committing more errors, the Hudson Valley Renegades scored three runs without the benefit of a hit in a wild first inning propelling them to a 4-3 win Friday night at Dutchess Stadium in front of 4,525 fans. 
 
In the bottom-of-the-first, there were four walks, three wild pitches, two passed balls and a throwing error from Tri-City. Centerfielder Garrett Hiott started the inning with a walk, stole second and third, then scored on a throwing error from ValleyCats catcher Juanrael Paulino. Rightfielder Hill Alexander walked then advanced to second, third and home on wild pitches. Leftfielder Beau Brundage also walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, then scored on a passed ball. 
 
Hudson Valley added another run in the fourth. With one out, shortstop Nick Sogard roped a single to right. Two batters later, with two away, second baseman Luis Arcendo lined a triple to right-center to score Sogard from first and up the Renegades lead to 4-0. 
 
Tri-City had a few prime opportunities to score but came up empty. In the third, rightfielder Preston Pavlica singled and stole second. With two out, third baseman Joe Perez lined a single to center. Pavlica tried to score from second, but Hiott threw a beautiful one-hop strike to the plate to gun down Pavlica at home. In the sixth, two singles and a walk loaded the bases with two out, however Hudson Valley reliever Steffon Moore struck out Paulino swinging to end the threat. The ValleyCats, again, loaded the bases with two-out thanks to three walks, but relief man Jose Roca came in and got Perez to fly to right to get the Renegades out of the jam.   
 
The ValleyCats finally broke through when they put three runs on the board to pull to within one. Leftfielder Zach Biermann started the inning with a double to right, then went to third on an infield single from A. J. Lee. Paulino followed that with a off-field single to left to score Biermann and move Lee to second. After Lee and Paulino pulled off a double-steal, Roca settled down and got back-toback groundouts to second from second baseman Bryan Arias and centerfielder E.P. Reese. Both batters drove in runs on their groundouts to make the score 4-3. 
 
But that was as close as Tri-City got as Roca got the final out of the eighth and closer Hector Figueroa tossed a scoreless ninth to nail down the win for Hudson Valley. It was Figueroa's second save of the season. 
 
The win went to Renegades' reliever Evan McKendry (1-0) who pitched three scoreless innings in his Hudson Valley debut. The right-hander also struck out two and walked no one. The loss fell to Tri-City starter Kyle Serrano (0-1) who gave up three runs, two earned, with three walks and three wild pitches in 0.2 innings of work.  
 
Despite the win, the Renegades collected only four hits. The ValleyCats, meanwhile, picked up 11 including a 3-4 effort from Perez. Perry chipped in by going 2-4. 
 
The Renegades and ValleyCats now come to Dutchess Stadium to play the final two games of their three-game series with the first contest slated for tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. There will be fireworks following the game. Right-hander John Doxakis (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will start for Hudson Valley against at to-be-determined pitcher for Tri-City. Tickets are on sale and can be purchased online at hvrenegades.com, in person at the Dutchess Stadium ticket window, or by calling the ticket office at 845-838-0094.