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For the first time all season, the Renegades swept a three-game series.
Hudson Valley completed its sweep of the visiting Aberdeen Ironbirds with an impressive 8-4 victory on Sunday, Aug. 19 at Dutchess Stadium.
The Renegades outscored the Ironbirds in the three games 30-11, and punctuated their offensive performance on Sunday night with a seven-run fifth inning.
After scoring once in the fourth inning on a pair of doubles, the Renegades came alive in the fifth, sending 11 batters to the plate and recording seven hits. And in a rare baseball feat, catcher Mike McCormick had two extra-base hits in the inning, a home run and an RBI double.
McCormick, who finished second in the All-Star Home Run Derby held earlier in the week, led off the inning with his sixth home run of the season.
The Renegades then loaded the bases on two singles and an error, and the runners were driven home on an RBI groundout, a sacrifice fly and a run-scoring single. Two batters later, right fielder Reid Fronk cleared the bases with a two-run double. Fronk came home on McCormick’s second hit of the inning, a double off the left field wall.
When the dust had settled after first basemen Hank Wrigley made the final out of the inning, the Renegades possessed a commanding 8-0 lead.
That was more than enough for Renegades starter Jesse Darcy, who carried a no-hitter through 5-and-two-thirds innings. The Ironbirds managed to score a run in the fifth on an error and a sacrifice fly. In the sixth, they broke up Darcy’s no-hit bid when left fielder Joe Mahoney hit a solo homer with two outs.
The Ironbirds held the Renegades’ offense at bay after their fifth-inning outburst and scored two more runs against Renegades relief pitchers Robert Della Grotta and Bladimir Florentino after Darcy left the game, but the comeback fell short.
Darcy finished with a strong six-inning performance, allowing just two runs on two hits and striking out four. With the win, Darcy improved to 5-4 with a 4.15 ERA, tying pitcher Jason Ragan for the team lead in victories.
Command is key
Renegades manager Matt Quatraro and McCormick said Darcy exhibited good command of his pitch selection and was able to throw consistently for strikes.
“He could locate three of his pitches – his changeup, slider and fastball,” McCormick. “That’s one thing he’s done well all year. Any time he can do that he keeps hitters off balance.”
Quatraro said Darcy had the added advantage of receiving solid run support from a Renegades team that has found its stride at the plate.
“Guys are swinging the bats good. Hitting is contagious,” said Quatraro. “The guys are feeding off each other and it’s a nice thing to see.”
The Renegades, who have won three of four since the All-Star break, improved to 25-31. The loss was the eighth in a row for the Ironbirds, a franchise record. The Renegades traveled to Aberdeen, Maryland this week to take on the Ironbirds in a two-game set and then returned home for a series against the Tri-City Valley Cats before taking to the road to battle the Oneonta Tigers in a three-game series that begins on Aug. 25.
In other Renegades news, All-Star outfielder Maiko Loyola was called up to the Columbus Catfish, the Tampa Bay Devil Ray’s Class A affiliate.
Loyola, who hit .307 with 4 home runs, 29 RBIs and 19 steals in 44 games with the Renegades, started the season with Columbus before being sent back down to Hudson Valley.
The Renegades also announced that General Manager Dave Burke resigned after four years with the organization.
Burke, who will take over the reigns of the Grand Prairie AirHogs, an American Association baseball team in Grand Prairie, Texas, was named Executive of the Year by the Florida State League in 2001 and the New-York Penn League in 2006.
Burke will be replaced by Eben Yager, who served for the past two years as assistant general manager of the St. Paul Saints, an American Association baseball team in St. Paul, Minn. owned by the Goldklang Group, which also owns the Renegades.
