Blue Rocks Spoil Hudson Valley Playoff Hopes

The Wilmington Blue Rocks were able to bounce back from two rough losses against the Hudson Valley Renegades to defeat their division rivals 5-4 on Friday, September 9.

While the Blue Rocks did pick up the victory, early on it looked like it could be a repeat of the past two games as the Renegades struck first.

With starting pitcher Michael Cuevas on the mound in his second inning of work, the Renegades’ six through eight batters put together a double, a triple, and another double to take the 2-0 lead.

Then, with Cuevas already deep into the inning, Renegades’ top prospect Jasson Dominguez hit a two-run blast to right field to extend that lead to 4-0.

Luckily for Wilmington, they would be able to start to answer back in the bottom of the frame.

With the bases loaded, Hudson Valley’s first baseman T.J. Rumfield made a fielding error on Ricardo Mendez’ ground ball, scoring Leandro Emiliani. A sac-fly from Cole Daily brought home Onix Vega and cut the deficit down in half.

In the bottom of the fourth, Wilmington continued their comeback when the hero of the night Viandel Pena hit a two-RBI triple to the right field corner to tie the game. A costly wild pitch from Hudson Valley relief pitcher Trevor Holloway allowed Pena to score, giving Wilmington the 5-4 lead, which is all they needed to secure the victory.

With the series tied at 2-2 and only two games left in the Blue Rocks season, the team looks to take the series and finish the year on a high note. The next matchup against Hudson Valley is set for Saturday, September 10 at 6:35 p.m.