Renegades Capture Division Crown
Wappingers Falls, NY (8/28/14)-The Hudson Valley Renegades won 5-3 over the Connecticut Tigers on Thursday evening, and clinched first place in the McNamara Division. The win puts them at 46-26 overall, the best record in the New York-Penn League. Hudson Valley looks to secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs in their final four games of the regular season. Their magic number is three games to clinch the number one seed for the 2014 playoffs. Backed by a strong pitching performance from Enderson Franco, the Renegades took the first game of a three game set with Connecticut.
In his 48th career start, Enderson Franco battled through five innings on the hill. The righty surrendered three runs in the outing, while striking out three and walking just one. He improves to 7-3 on the campaign, the highest win total on Hudson Valley's pitching staff. He has now retired thirteen batters in his last four starts on strikes, and will not pitch again until the postseason.
Edgar Gomez and Edwin Fierro combined to go the next four innings in relief, with Fierro picking up the save. Together, the two struck out three batters, walked none and gave up no runs. They shut the door on a Connecticut team fighting for their postseason lives.
Offensively, Leopoldo Correa led the team in hits with a 3-4 performance. Hudson Valley scored five runs on eleven hits, with four triples in the contest. Coty Blanchard and Grant Kay both had two hits in the game, and each drove in a run. Casey Gillaspie came up to the plate four times on the night, but did not have a single record at-bat. The switch-hitting slugger walked three times and lined a sacrifice fly to center-field to score Coty Blanchard in the first inning.
Notes: The Renegades now have the best home record and best overall record in the New York-Penn League. Their pitching staff leads all fourteen clubs in overall team pitching, and the team is 33-7 in games that they score first.
The Renegades are back home tomorrow at 7:05 PM for the second game of a three-game series against the Connecticut Tigers. Join us from "Be Your Own Fan Friday" at the ballpark! Watch your ideas come to life at the ballpark as fans will have the opportunity to choose everything from the music to in-between inning contests. Great seats are still available! For tickets and more information call 845-838-0094 or visit HVrenegades.com.