WILMINGTON, DE (9/5/26) — The Wilmington Blue Rocks beat the Hudson Valley Renegades 5-3 Saturday night at Frawley Stadium, securing their second home series win in a row.
Wilmington improves to 68-62 overall and 37-28 in the second half. Hudson Valley falls to 64-61 overall and 34-27 in the second half.
The Blue Rocks got off to an incredibly fast start scoring four runs in , in the first inning alone
It started with a Luke Dickerson stolen base, but after the throw down to second was offline, Ronny Cruz, who was on third, stole home. Dickerson then advanced to second after the throw home was offline.
Angel Feliz and Jacob Walsh followed with back-to-back doubles, scoring another two runs. Feliz's double came off the bat at 108 mph and scored Dickerson. Walsh's double scored Feliz after the ball bounced off the right field wall.
Wilmington got its fourth run when Nate Rombach grounded to first, allowing Walsh to score and giving the Blue Rocks a 4-0 lead.
The Blue Rocks finished their scoring in the eighth inning when Cruz beat out an infield single to allow Dickerson to score.
Wilmington's pitching shut down Hudson Valley early, especially starter Liam Sullivan. In his best outing of the season, Sullivan tossed five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits, no walks and striking out seven.
“Felt great,” Sullivan said. “Just feels like a lot of stuff we've been working on with Lordy and Niko all clicked today, so it was awesome.”
Sullivan said the plan against Hudson Valley was centered around his sinker and changeup.
“I think the biggest thing, we've been working on throwing a sinker, throwing a changeup and attacking them with that,” Sullivan said. “And we had success with it early and we just kept going with it.”
Sullivan's sinker has been a work in progress throughout his time in Wilmington, but Saturday was a breakthrough performance.
“Honestly, first day sinker's been any good, so it's been a work in progress, but it helped a lot today,” Sullivan said.
Assistant pitching coach Niko Leontarakis said the coaching staff has worked with Sullivan on refining his approach without forcing him to completely change what he does well.
“Lordy [Justin Lord] and I, as well as Liam [Sullivan], collaborating as a unit, changing the focal points for him, different thoughts, different external cues, getting it so he doesn't feel like he has to do something completely different than what he does well,” Leontarakis said.
Leontarakis said the goal for Sullivan was to attack Hudson Valley and enjoy his final start of the season.
“We told him, dude, go in there, empty the tank, throw all your best stuff dude and just have a lot of fun,” Leontarakis said.
Erick Mejia, who is rehabbing from Triple-A Rochester, followed Sullivan with a scoreless sixth, while Baron Stuart pitched a scoreless seventh.
The pitching staff's success has been a major storyline for Wilmington in the second half. Leontarakis credited the group's ability to get ahead in counts and utilize its best pitches when it matters most.
“Floating the zone prior to two strikes, putting yourself in advantage counts and then getting out of the zone when we get to two strikes,” Leontarakis said.
Despite being eliminated from postseason contention, Wilmington has continued to play hard, winning another series and putting together three straight series victories.
“I think it just goes to show who our guys are and they keep showing up,” manager Ted Tom said.
Tom said the continued effort is important for the team's development heading into the offseason.
“When they tell us to play, we play,” Tom said. “So even after we got eliminated, they told us to play three more games, we're going to play them.”
The win also secured Wilmington's first winning season since 2019.
“We want to play winning baseball. We want to make our players better,” Tom said. “I'm really excited for the organization here, but I'm excited for our guys that they kept showing up and seeing the results of their work.”
The Blue Rocks will be back in action for the season finale at 1:05 p.m. Austin Amaral is slated to be the starter.