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WAPPINGERS FALLS, NY- On the final day of the regular season, the Hudson Valley Renegades split a meaningless doubleheader with the Aberdeen Ironbirds Thursday night at Dutchess Stadium. The Renegades won game one 2-1, before dropping the nightcap 10-3.
In game one, the Renegades only put four balls into play, but still won 2-1. The Renegades started the scoring in the first inning. Shortstop Taylor Walls started the frame with a walk. Following back-to-back strikeouts by Ironbirds starting pitcher Mike Baumann, first-baseman Brendan McKay roped an RBI triple to right-centerfield to score Walls and give the Renegades a 1-0 lead. Catcher Rafelin Lorenzo came up next and struck out swinging, however the third strike got by Ironbirds catcher Jean Carrillo for a passed ball. McKay scored and Lorenzo reached first to make the score 2-0. Baumann then proceeded to strike out the next hitter, leftfielder Isaac Benard, to give him four strikeouts in the first.
Aberdeen came back with a run in the second. Designated hitter Trevor Craport started the inning with a groundball double down the leftfield line. A wild pitch moved him to third as first baseman Luke Ringhofer drew a walk off of Renegades starting pitcher Jhonleider Salinas. With runners at the corners and nobody out, rightfielder Will Robertston grounded out to short to score Craport and cut the Renegades' lead to 2-1. Salinas responded with back-to-back strikeouts of his final two hitters to end the inning.
That would be as close as the Ironbirds mustered only two hits for the rest of the game. Second baseman Kirvin Moesquit over-slid a stolen base at second in the third to thwart a rally in the third. Aberdeen also had runners at first and second with no one out in the fourth, but a strike out of rightfielder Will Robertston, and a lineout 6-4 double play from leftfielder Zach Jarrett ended the inning.
Getting the win for Hudson Valley was reliever Andrew Gist (4-1) who tossed a 1-2-3 fifth inning and struck out one as Hudson Valley used five pitchers in the game. The loss fell to Baumann (4-2) who allowed two runs over two innings on a hit despite the six strikeouts. Closer (10) Zack Mozingo got the save for Hudson Valley by pitching a scoreless seventh. Zac Lowther tossed four hitless innings and struck out nine Renegades leaving Hudson Valley with 15 strikeouts for the game.
There were only four hits in the contest. McKay's triple was the only hit for Hudson Valley while Aberdeen had a double and two singles.
In game two, the Ironbirds pounced on Renegades pitching to the tune of 10 runs on 10 hits in the first four innings en route to a 10-3 win.
Second baseman Kirvin Moesquit started the game by reaching base on a fielding error from Renegades second baseman Vidal Brujan. Moesquit stole second, went to third on a wild pitch, then scored on an RBI line drive single to left to give the Ironbirds a 1-0 lead.
In the second, leftfielder Zach Jarrett led off with a double, then moved to third on a fly out to center from centerfielder Jaylen Ferguson. Jarrett scored two hitters later when shortstop Carlos Baez reached on an infield single to second to bring in Jarrett and make the score 2-0.
Aberdeen would add three more in the third to take control of the game. Moesquit, third baseman Garrett Copeland and Craport started the inning with consecutive singles to load the bases. First baseman Luke Ringhofer drove in a run on a groundout to second as Moesquit touched home. Jarrett was then hit with a pitch to reload the bases before Ferguson grounded into a 6-4 fielder's choice to score Copeland and move Craport to third. With two outs and runners at the corners, Ferguson got caught in a rundown between first and second on a stolen base attempt. He was able to stay in the rundown long enough to allow Craport to score from third and give the Ironbirds a 5-0 lead.
The visitors then blew the game open with five more runs in the fourth as they sent 10 men to the plate. Singles to rightfielder Tristan Graham and a walk to shortstop Carlos Baez started the inning. With runners at first and second with no one out, catcher Jose Lizarraga grounded a single to left to score Graham and move Baez to second. Moesquit followed with a bloop single to center to move Baez to third and Graham to second. With the bases loaded and no one out, Copeland roped a three-run triple down the rightfield line to score all three runners and give Aberdeen a 9-0 lead. Copeland came home as pinch hitter Irving Ortega reached on a throwing error from Renegades relief pitcher Eduard Rosillo. That capped the scoring as the Ironbirds were staked to a 10-0 advantage.
Hudson Valley got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as catcher Jean Ramirez blasted his second homerun of the year over the leftfield wall. It was a solo shot to make the score 10-1.
Things stayed that way until the seventh when the Renegades plated two more runs. Centerfielder Carl Chester began the inning with a groundball single to right, then score as third baseman Deion Tansel laced a double down the leftfield line. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Tansel scored on a fielding error from Moesquit to make the final 10-3.
Aberdeen finished with 12 hits. Copeland finished 2-4 with a triple, three RBI and two runs scored. Moesquit went 2-4 with an RBI and three runs, while Craport went 2-2 with a run and RBI. Baez chipped in by going 2-3 with two singles, an RBI and a run scored.
Hudson Valley had nine hits, including three singles from Chester who also scored a run. Ramirez went 1-3 with his solo homer and a single. Rightfielder Angel Perez went 2-4 with two singles to aid the Renegades' cause.
Getting the win in relief for the Ironbirds was reliever Nick Vespi (4-3) who allowed a run on four hits in three innings with four strikeouts. The loss went to Renegades starter Hector Lopez (2-6) after he allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits in two frames. He also struck out two. Rosillo was hit hard after he allowed eight runs on seven hits in only two innings of work.
The Hudson Valley Renegades now head to the playoffs where they will face the Staten Island Yankees in a best-of-three series. Game one will be at Dutchess Stadium on Saturday with first-pitch is slated for 5:05. Games two and, if necessary three, will be at Staten Island. The Renegades will start right-hander Tobias Myers (4-2, 3.68 ERA) in game one. Staten Island has not announced its starting pitcher. Tickets can be purchased online at hvrenegades.com or by calling the ticket office at 845-838-0094.
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