Blue Rocks Storm Back to Steal One From Renegades

The Wilmington Blue Rocks (21-19) walked off the Hudson Valley Renegades (24-17) 10-9 after a furious comeback down 7-0.

For the Rocks, it was rough early and often. A one-out single for Alexander Vargas sparked a two-run inning to give the Renegades an early lead.

After a 1-2-3 second inning, starter Kyle Luckham would struggle again in the third. A leadoff solo home run for Aaron Palensky got things going for the Renegades in the third to make it 3-0. Spencer Henson would follow that up with a single and Rafael Flores would walk to put two men on with nobody out. An RBI single for Grant Richardson would bring home Henson to make it 4-0 Renegades and that would be the end of the day for Luckham.

The bleeding wouldn’t stop there as the Renegades would bring in one more to make it 5-0 in the third.

The Renegades would add on in the fourth as a leadoff single for Spencer Jones sparked another two-run inning to make it 7-0 Renegades.

In the fifth, the Blue Rocks would begin their comeback. A leadoff single for Erick Mejia sparked a four-run inning for the Blue Rocks which was capped off with a two-run home run off the bat of James Wood to make it 7-4.

The Renegades would score two more in the sixth to make it 9-4 but the Rocks would keep fighting.

In the bottom half of the sixth, a one-out single for Mejia got things going. Then, a two-out double for James Wood moved Mejia to third and a two-run single for Trey Lipscomb would bring Wood and Mejia home to make it 9-6. Lipscomb would later score on an RBI single by Jeremy De La Rosa to make it 9-7.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Rocks would keep climbing. A one-out single by Matt Suggs would be followed by another single for Mejia which was followed by an RBI single for Jacob Young to make it 9-8. Wood would draw a walk to load the bases for Lipscomb who grounded into a fielder’s choice and brought Mejia home to tie the game up at nine.

A quiet eighth and ninth from both teams forced the game into extras. Luis Santos started the 10th on second for the Renegades and would advance to third on a wild pitch. The Renegades would not be able to capitalize though and the game would stay tied heading into the bottom half of the 10th.

Wood would start the 10th on second for the Rocks and would advance to third after Frizzell grounded into a fielder’s choice which brought up De La Rosa with a chance to win the game. After getting ahead 1-0 in the count, De La Rosa hit a ground ball out to short that took a short hop on Vargas and allowed Wood to score the winning run as the Rocks mobbed De La Rosa behind first base.

The comeback win tied the six game series at one a piece with game three coming tomorrow night at 6:35.