Blue Rocks Surge for Late Comeback

The Wilmington Blue Rocks (41-54) defeated the Hudson Valley Renegades (54-43) 8-4 on Tuesday night to open up their six game series.

The Rocks had steady southpaw Andrew Alvarez on the bump tonight. Alvarez quickly got himself into some trouble in the first after surrendering a walk and a single to put runners on first and second with two outs.

Alvarez then threw back to back wild pitches to allow a run to score and give the Renegades an early 1-0 lead. In the top of the third, another wild pitch would advance a runner who would later score on an RBI single to make it 2-0 Renegades.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Rocks attacked the bullpen patiently. Jared McKenzie was hit by a pitch to lead off and the line would keep on moving from there. A single for Branden Boissiere was followed by three straight walks to score McKenzie and make it a one-run game.

A single by Daylen Lile would bring in two more to give the Rocks their first lead of the game and an RBI single for Israel Pineda would make it a 4-2 game.

In the sixth, Jeremy De La Rosa would lead off with a no doubt solo home run to right field to make it a 5-2 game and in the seventh, the Rocks would put the game away.

A one-out single for Murphy Stehly would be followed with a two-run blast to center field by Israel Pineda to make it 7-2 Rocks, and give him three RBIs on the day, and an RBI single for Boissiere would score one more to make it 8-2.

The Renegades would add two in the ninth but Chance Huff would close it out to give the Rocks the game one victory and improve Alvarez’ record to 6-3 for the season. The two teams will be back at it tomorrow at 6:35.