ValleyCats walk-off in 12 inning comeback victory

TROY — Stephen Wrenn walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th inning, and Ryne Birk scored the winning run as the Tri-City ValleyCats (9-10) beat the State College Spikes (13-6) on Tuesday night in front of 3,530.

The Spikes controlled the first seven innings of action, collecting 12 hits and five runs before the ValleyCats took over in the eighth.

The ValleyCats managed only one hit, a 2nd inning single against Spikes starter Ronnie WIlliams, until the 8th inning. Cesar led off the 8th with another base hit, before Kevin Martir reached on an error. With two on and one out, Manager Johnny Rodriguez pulled WIlliams in favor of Jordan DeLorenzo. Jake Rogers singled, scoring Cesar, the ‘Cats first run.

DeLorenzo came back on for the 9th and pitched to three batters, surrendering a leadoff double to Birk, a base hit to Daz Cameron and hit Ronnie Dawson with a pitch before he exited the game. Brady Bowen (BS, 1) came on in relief and gave up two 2-run singles to Wrenn and Dawson to tie the game at five runs apiece in the bottom of the 9th.

The ‘Cats managed a base runner in the 11th, but failed to score. In the 12th inning, Birk led off with a single, Cameron walked, and Dawson ripped a base hit to right field, loading the bases. With Max Almonte (L, 0-1) on the hill, Wrenn walked on four pitches to give Tri-City their second win in extra innings this season.

Sean Stutzman earned the win in relief for the ValleyCats, his first professional victory. Stutzman retired the final nine batters in the 10th, 11th and 12th, striking out four.

With a base hit in the 9th inning, Wrenn extended his on-base streak to 18 games, the longest active streak in the New York-Penn League. Cesar, registering two hits and walking once, raised his batting average from .344 to .358 and extended his hit streak to seven games.

Tri-City and State College will play in the rubber match of this three game series tomorrow night, July 6th, at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. with Erasmo Pinales facing off against Bryan Dobzanski.