'Cats Take Down Renegades In 10 Innings

The Renegades were unable to put the finishing touches on their comeback Saturday night vs. the Tri-City ValleyCats falling 4-3 in 10 innings at Dutchess Stadium in front of 4,733 fans.

 

The Renegades gave the starting nod to Shane Dyer. Dyer hurled three innings and allowed three runs on five hits but did not factor into the decision. Reliever Neil Schenk came into the game in the seventh and factored into the decision recording his first loss of the season.

 

Renegades Jason Tweedy continues to be hot going 3-for-4 on the night extending his on-base streak to 16 games. He has been on base safely in every game he has played in thus far this season (16 games).

 

The ValleyCats struck first plating a run off the bat of Phil Disher in the visiting half of the first to give the ‘Cats an one-run lead. After a lead-off strikeout The ValleyCats put Christopher Jackson on first with an infield single to second baseman Michael Ross. Jackson scored the ValleyCats first run of the game two batters later on a Disher double down the left-field line giving the ‘Cats an early one-run lead.

 

Tri-City would increase their lead to three-runs by the middle of the third inning plating a run in both the second and the third inning.

 

In the top of the second with Michael Diaz on first Ronald Ramirez hit a double to the wall in left field allowing Diaz to score from first and bring the score to 2-0 in favor of the visitors. The ValleyCats added another run in the top of the third. With Jonathan Gaston on third, Gaston doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch from Dyer, Tri-City hit a slow roller towards second base allowing Gatson to cross home brining the score to 3-0 in favor of Tr-City.

 

The Renegades were able to crack the scoreboard in the bottom of the third. The inning started off after Anthony Scelfo walked and advanced to second when Tweedy was hit by a pitch. With runners on first and second and Jason Corder batting both runners took off looking to advance a base. The Renegades where able to pull off the double steal and thanks to an error by second baseman Diaz, Scelfo was able to cross home and cut the ‘Cats lead to two runs.

 

The Renegades bullpen came into the game in the fourth inning to relieve starter Dyer. Robert Della Grotta and Schenk dominated the ValleyCats batters sending the first 16 batters they faced back to the bench. The Renegades bullpen combined for seven innings of one-run baseball and only allowed three hits.

 

The Renegades knotted the game up at three runs apiece in the home half of the seventh. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh the Renegades offense came alive. Scelfo started the two-out rally with a double to left field. Scelfo scored during the next at-bat on a Tweedy single to left field to bring the ‘Gades with in one run. The Renegades would tie the game up at 3-3 three batters later off the bat of Kyeong Kang. Kang’s single allowed Tweedy to score from second.

 

The game would remain knotted up at three runs apiece until the top of the tenth inning. The ValleyCats started off with a single off the bat of Diaz that chased Schenk from the game. Thomas Rafferty came into the game with Diaz on first and no outs. Diaz advanced to second on a groundout to Rafferty during the next at-bat.

With a lone runner on second base the Renegades decided to intentionally walk Jake Shuck to setup the double play. Jackson, the next batter, from the ValleyCats had a different idea driving a double to center field allowing Diaz to score the go ahead run, brining the score to its finale 4-3.

 

The Renegades were unable to bounce back in the tenth thanks to the ValleyCats closer Michael Hacker. Hacker earned his second save of the year recording three outs on just two pitches.

 

The Renegades play the finale of the three-game series vs. the Tri-City ValleyCats Monday with the first pitch slated for 12:05. The Renegades will be giving the starting nod to right-hander John Baird (0-1, 0.84) and the ValleyCats will be giving the ball to right-hander Roberto Bono (0-2, 6.52).