Garrett Martin walk-off homer carries Renegades to victory

Wappingers Falls, N.Y. (Aug. 16, 2024) — Garrett Martin was the hero for the Hudson Valley Renegades on Friday night, as his walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth gave the Gades a 3-2 win over the Hickory Crawdads at Heritage Financial Park.

The walk-off victory was the eighth for the season for Hudson Valley and the second via the long ball.

Trent Sellers put together another strong performance, retiring the first nine batters he faced. The right-hander tossed four scoreless innings, matching his season-high, while allowing just two hits and striking out four. He has been charged with just two earned runs in his last 35.0 innings dating back to June 25th, good for a 0.51 ERA.

Hudson Valley struggled early generating offense against Crawdads starter D.J. McCarty, but opened the scoring in the fifth inning with a two-out rally. Antonio Gomez reached on an infield single and Anthony Hall lined a single to right to put runners at first and second. Roc Riggio drove both runners in with a two-run double to make it 2-0, his first of two doubles in the game.

In the top of the seventh Malcolm Moore led off with a walk and Arturo Disla tied the game with a two-run shot to left off Joel Valdez.

The game remained tied at 2 until Martin’s solo shot to lead off the ninth inning, his ninth of the season. The win improved the Renegades to a season-best six games over .500.

Hudson Valley will look to secure a series victory on Saturday night against Hickory at Heritage Financial Park. First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m., with the Heritage Financial Credit Union Pregame Show beginning at 4:45 on the Renegades Baseball Network. Cade Smith (0-0, 3.86) will make his home debut for the Renegades while the left-hander Kohl Drake (4-3, 2.95) starts for the Crawdads. For tickets and more information, visit www.hvrenegades.com/tickets