Scrappers can't recover from early deficit

The Scrappers dropped their fourth game in five nights Saturday, losing 6-3 to the Hudson Valley Renegades. 

As has been problematic as of late, the Scrappers found themselves in an early hole.  Geoffrey Davenport took the bump, still seeking his first win of the year. but didn’t do himself any favors, as he allowed a homerun to leadoff man Joey Rickard to put himself in an immediate 1-0 hole.  He issued a pair of one out walks with a man already on to load the bases, butescaped after inducing a double play. 

Davenport’s second inning started out the same as his first, with Deshun Dixon blasting a leadoff homer.  He allowed another pair in the third, on a couple of RBI singles from Ryan Dunn and Dixon to put the Renegades up 4-0 after three.

The Scrappers were finally able to make some noise of their own in the fourth with a two-out rally.  Marcus Bradley singled with two-down to start the frame.  After a wild pitch placed Bradley on second, Erik Gonzalez smacked a double to put the Scrappers on the board.  Robel Garcia ripped a double if his own to chase home a second run and pull the Scrappers within two

Davenport left with two-outs in the fifth in favor of reliever Jacob Lee.  Davenport finished with four runs on seven hits, three walks and two strikeouts.  Lee kept the opposing bats in check until theseventh, when he allowed a two-run homerun to Thomas Coyle.  The homerun should have been a solo shot, but a dropped foul ball gave leadoff man joey Rickard an extra chance, which hetook advantage of with a single. 

That error was the first of two errors the Scrappers committed in the ballgame.  Over their last five games, the Scrapper defense has been atrocious, committing nine during the stretch.

Down 6-2 the Scrappers managed to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, after Marcus Bradley and Erik Gonzalez started the inning with back-to-back singles followed by a Robel Garcia walk.  That rally was quickly snuffed out, however, as Jairo Kelly grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.  It did score a run, but it wouldn’t be near enough, as that was the only run they could muster.

Davenport took the loss in the contest, his second of the year.  Renegade reliever BrandonHenderson got the win, moving him to 3-0.  With the loss, the Scrappers fell to 13-13 on the season.  They will look to again climb above .500 tomorrow at 5:05.