BURLINGTON, VT ---Newcomer Marcus Jones had a two-run double and Jake Dugger added an RBI double as the Vermont Lake Monsters scored at least one run in five consecutive innings to beat the Hudson Valley Renegades 8-5 in New York-Penn League action Monday night at historic Centennial Field.The Renegades broke out on top in the second on an RBI double from Justin Reynolds off Vermont starter PJ Dean, the first run allowed by Dean at Centennial this season in 16 innings of work. Dean would go on to allow three more runs in the contest on a two-run Kyeong Kang homer in the fourth and a Mark Thomas solo homer in the fifth.
But the Lake Monsters had taken control of the game by that point as Vermont scored three runs in the bottom of the second and two more runs in the third for a 5-1 lead. Derek Norris led off the second with a double and scored on a Tyler Moore RBI single. Jones, playing in his second game with Vermont, then gave the Lake Monsters the lead with a two-out, two-run double to score Michael Guerrero (who snapped an 0-for-28 slump with a single) and Moore.
Dugger's RBI double came in the fourth scoring Steve Souza for a 4-1 lead and Dugger then scored on a two-out throwing error by third baseman Jeff Carroll. After Hudson Valley had cut the lead to 5-3 with Kang's homer in the fourth, the Lake Monsters used some speed to score an unearned run as Jones and Jake Smolinski executed a double steal with Jones scoring from third when catcher Thomas' throw went into left field.
Vermont again responded in the bottom of the fifth after a Hudson Valley run in the top of the inning as pinch hitter James Keithley walked, moved to second on a Jones sacrifice bunt and scored on a Smolinski RBI double for a 7-4 Lake Monsters advantage.
Dean (4-1) allowed four runs on five hits over five innings to pick up the win, while reliever Kevin Light gave up one hit in three scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Hudson Valley starter Chris Andujar (3-3) allowed six runs (four earned) on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings for the loss. Reliever Glenn Gibson, who pitched for the Lake Monsters in 2006 and 2007 before being traded to Tampa Bay, gave up two runs (one earned) and struckout four in two innings for the Renegades.
Jones and Smolinski both had two hits and an RBI for the Lake Monsters, while Norris was 1-for-2 with two runs and two walks. Norris has now walked 48 times on the season, tying him for third-place on the Vermont single-season walk list. He is five walks away from Val Pascucci's team-record 53 walks in 1999.
Anthony Scelfo, Reynolds and Thomas all had two hits for Hudson Valley (37-27), which has lost the first two games of the series to the Lake Monsters after winning 10 of its previous 11 games.
Vermont (26-36), which has gone 3-2 over the first five games of the six-game homestand, will host Hudson Valley in the finale on Tuesday night at Centennial before heading out on the road for an eight-game roadtrip.
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