Brandon Pimentel rounds third. Pimentel recorded a hit in the loss. - Saturday, April 12, 2025. Photo via Ryan Griffith
A trio of home runs propelled the Hudson Valley Renegades (23-9) to a 9-1 win over the Wilmington Blue Rocks (10-23) in the series finale on Sunday, May 11.
After a scoreless opening frame from Jake Bennett, Wilmington wasted no time getting on the board as an RBI single from Caleb Lomavita drove Seaver King home, who doubled down the right field line the at-bat prior and gave the Blue Rocks an early 1-0 advantage.
Wilmington had another chance in the second to put up a crooked number, as a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases with no outs but Renegades’ starter Bryce Cunningham escaped the jam on just two pitches, getting Johnathon Thomas to ground into a 1-2-3 double play and Brenner Cox to fly out to center to escape the jam unscathed.
Hudson Valley took advantage of the missed opportunity in the third, as a one-out double from Anthony Hall and a walk from Brendan Jones put two on for Ric Riggio, who gave the Renegades a 3-1 lead with his first home run of the year, sending Bennett’s 3-2 pitch into the visitor’s bullpen. Bennett was able to record consecutive outs on the ensuing batters to finish out his season debut with the Blue Rocks, where he allowed just two hits, and three runs, walked two, and struck out four across three innings of work.
After Peyton Glavine tossed two scoreless innings, the Renegades were finally able to break through against the Rocks’ bullpen in the sixth. Parks Harber got it started with a leadoff home run to dead center against the newly-entered Erik Tolman, who then walked Coby Morales the following at-bat which proved to loom large, as Jose Colmenares pushed the score to 5-1 after driving Morales home with an RBI double.
Wilmington was held in check until the sixth when Brandon Pimentel’s two-out single ended Cunningham’s streak of 13 consecutive batters retired. T.J. White followed suit with another two-out single, but nothing came of the back-to-back singles.
“[Cunningham] had really good stuff,” Brandon Pimentel said. “He was working all his pitches throughout the game. I was trying to battle in there and compete.”
The Renegades tacked two more on in the seventh after a two-run double from Morales scored Jones and Riggio, who both drew walks, to extend the lead to 7-1. The Blue Rocks had a chance to cut into that deficit in their half of the seventh once Hudson Valley turned to the bullpen, as they loaded the bases against reliever Chris Kean, but consecutive flyouts from King and Lomavita kept the score at 7-1.
That score changed in the top of the eighth, thanks to a two-run home run from Brenny Escanio, who found the back of the Renegades’ bullpen for his third long ball of the year to provide the game’s final margin.
Wilmington will have an off-day tomorrow before taking on the Jersey Shore BlueClaws for a six-game series, with the opener scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, at 6:05 p.m.
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