NYPL Hudson Valley Renegades

Renegades Beat IronBirds in 12-9 Shootout

Published on September 2, 2012 under New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Hudson Valley Renegades News Release


ABERDEEN, MD (Sunday, September 2): The Hudson Valley Renegades won a barnburner 12-9 over the Aberdeen IronBirds Sunday afternoon in front of 6,311 fans at Ripken Stadium. The Renegades (50-23) matched a franchise-best with their 50th win of the 2012 campaign, tying the record set in the 1998 season - the only other time the Renegades have won the McNamara Division title. Hudson Valley finished the 14-game season series against the IronBirds (26-47) in dominant fashion, taking 13 of 14 games from Aberdeen and winning the last 12 in a row.

The 'Gades opened the scoring in the top of the first inning. Center fielder Joey Rickard drew a leadoff walk from Aberdeen starter Lex Rutledge (0-3), and first baseman Ryan Dunn singled him to third. Dunn moved up to second on a wild pitch, and second baseman Tommy Coyle drew a walk to load the bases up with nobody out. Third baseman Richie Shaffer hit a grounder to second, but shortstop Kris Richards came off the base before catching the throw from Creede Simpson. All the runners made it forward safely, with Rickard scoring from third. Catcher Luke Maile worked a 3-2 count off Rutledge before pounding a fly ball deep to right, barely clearing the fence for a grand slam. It was the first grand slam of the year for the Renegades, and put them ahead 5-0.

Hudson Valley tacked on another tally in the top of the third. Shaffer led off the inning with a triple to center field, his first professional three-bagger. With one out, designated hitter Justin O'Conner hammered a double into the left-center field gap to score Shaffer and run the lead to 6-0.

Aberdeen got on the board in the bottom of the third inning. Hudson Valley starter Jeff Ames (6-1) hit leadoff man Anthony Vega with a pitch, and Will Howard doubled Vega home. That brought up Simpson, who had hit two homers against the Renegades at Dutchess Stadium in August. The former Auburn Tiger lofted a fly ball over the left field fence for a two-run homer that cut the lead to 6-3.

The Renegades answered in force in the top of the fifth. Coyle drew a leadoff walk, tying the Hudson Valley record for most walks in a single season with 42 in the process. Shaffer and Maile were both hit by pitches from reliever Jhondaniel Medina, loading the bases with no outs. O'Conner strode to the plate and lined a double to right, scoring Coyle and Shaffer and moving Maile to third. With one out, left fielder Marty Gantt bounced a ground out to the shortstop, allowing Maile to score and make the lead 9-3 in favor of the Renegades.

Hudson Valley added another run in the top of the sixth against new reliever Elias Pinales. With two outs, Shaffer banged a double to deep left field, and Maile singled to right to score Shaffer from second. The RBI single made it a 10-3 advantage for the Renegades.

The extra run proved crucial for Hudson Valley when Aberdeen rallied in the bottom of the sixth. Reliever Ian Kendall came on to replace Ames, and gave up three straight singles to Sam Kimmel, Hector Veloz and Chase Weems to load the bases with nobody out. Manny Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Kimmel and advancing Veloz to third. Kendall hit Cory Segui with a pitch to load the bases again. After whiffing Richards, Kendall walked Vega, scoring Veloz from third. Howard bounced a single through the left side to score Weems, keeping the bases loaded with two outs. Kendall then uncorked a wild pitch with Simpson at the plate; Segui scored on the blunder, and Vega and Howard moved up to occupy second and third. Simpson shot a triple to right field, plating both runners and trimming the Hudson Valley advantage to 10-9. Kendall finally got Kimmel, who had led off the inning, to ground out to second to end the inning.

The Renegades gave themselves a bit of cushion in the top of the eighth inning. Rickard and Dunn hit back-to-back singles to lead off against Pinales, and pulled off a double steal with one out against new reliever Janser Severino to wind up on second and third. Severino intentionally walked Shaffer to load the bases. Maile fanned for the second out, bringing up O'Conner. The designated hitter shot a ground ball single through the left side, scoring both Rickard and Dunn to push the Renegades lead to 12-9; Aberdeen never got the tying run to the plate after that.

Ames earned the win, allowing three runs on three hits and a walk against five strikeouts over five innings. Kendall was held responsible for six runs on five hits and a walk in his lone inning of action, striking out one. Kris Carlson threw two scoreless innings with one strikeout against a walk and a hit. Jose Molina hit one batter in the ninth but was otherwise perfect, notching his third save.

Rutledge took the loss for Aberdeen, coughing up five runs on two hits and two walks in his only inning of work. Medina allowed four runs on three hits and three walks over four innings; he struck out three. Pinales gave up three runs on five hits against two strikeouts in 2.1 frames. Severino allowed a hit and a walk, striking out one and recording two outs total; he allowed two inherited runners to score. Tom Winegardner came on to pitch a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts.

The Renegades will look for their fifth consecutive win Monday when they take on the Tri-City ValleyCats in a matchup of the New York-Penn League's top two teams. All-Star righty Taylor Guerrieri will get the start for the Renegades against Tri-City southpaw Brian Holmes. First pitch is at 5:00 p.m., with Ben Gellman's pregame show starting at 4:45 p.m. on 1450 and 1370 AM WKIP, as well as online at HVRenegades.com.

Great seats are still available for the playoffs at Dutchess Stadium. Call the ticket office at 845-838-0094 for information, or go to www.hvrenegades.com to order yours now!

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New York-Penn League Stories from September 2, 2012


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