Brooklyn Cyclones (7-4) vs. Hudson Valley Renegades (5-6) RHP Junior Santos (0-1, 6.35 ERA) vs. RHP Will Warren (0-1, 4.50 ERA) | Game 12 | Home Game 3 | Dutchess Stadium | Wappingers Falls, NY | April 21, 2022 | First Pitch 7:05 p.m. | HOME, SWEET HOME: After a nine-game road trip to start the season, the Hudson Valley Renegades continue their first home series of the year tonight against the Brooklyn Cyclones. Tonight marks game three of a 12-game, 13-day homestand as Brooklyn and Wilmington visit The Dutch. Tuesday’s home opener was the earliest regular-season Renegades game ever played at Dutchess Stadium, coming 22 days earlier than the May 11 opener in 2021. Before last season, the franchise had never played a game before June as a member of the Class Short Season-A New York-Penn League. The Cyclones and Renegades have split the first two games of the series. ABOUT LAST NIGHT...: The Renegades struck out a season-high 18 Brooklyn batters, but fell 4-3 on Wednesday night. Matt Sauer allowed two unearned runs in 4.1 innings, striking out seven and not issuing a walk in his third start of the year. James Nelson had a good night at the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with an RBI. A BREEZE GROWS IN BROOKLYN: Hudson Valley pitchers combined to strike out 35 Brooklyn batters in the first two games of the current series, setting a new season-high for the staff on each night (17 Tuesday, 18 Wednesday). In 2021, the Renegades struck out 17-or-more batters in a game five times, including a season-high of 18 three times. Notably, two of those three games came against Brooklyn (5/22 @ BRK, 9/9 @ HV). In 2021, the Renegades struck out 408 Cyclones, a rate of 11.81 K/9. A NEW ERA: Friday night marked an historic day for the South Atlantic League and across Minor League Baseball as it was the first game in which the new pitch clock rules were enforced. In the first night under the rules, game times across Minor League Baseball plummeted, with nearly 30 minutes shaved off the average game, according to numbers run by J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. Through Tuesday’s action, average game times have been cut by approximately 20 minutes, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. However, MLB has temporarily suspended the pitch clock at Dutchess Stadium until further notice. OFF TO THE RACES: Through 11 games, the Hudson Valley Renegades are second among High-A teams in stolen bases with 29. · Jersey Shore (PHI) has 36 to pace all High-A clubs, while Spokane (COL) of the Northwest League is the next-closest team, with 23. The Gades has been caught stealing six times, leading to a success rate of 82.8%. · Across all levels of the minors, the Renegades are tied with Lake Elsinore (SD) for third-most steals, with Fayetteville (HOU) of the Carolina League having stolen 30 bases. · The Renegades have stolen the most bases of any team in the Yankees organization, with Tampa (A) ranking second with 17 swipes. · With 29 steals through 11 games, the Renegades are stealing an average of 2.64 bases per game, which puts them on pace for 348 on the season, which would obliterate the previous franchise record of 149 in 2021. · Cooper Bowman leads the team with eight steals, which ranks third in the SAL. Bowman has stolen multiple bases in a game three times this season. Aldenis Sánchez is fifth in the circuit with six swipes. · The Renegades have stolen six bases in a game as a team twice this season. RUMFIELD’S PINSTRIPED DEBUT: In his first year in the New York Yankees organization, T.J. Rumfield has impressed with his performance on the field. During the season-opening road trip, Rumfield hit .412/.487/.735 with five doubles, two home runs and 10 RBIs. He ranks among the top 10 in the South Atlantic League in AVG (3rd), OBP (t-3rd), SLG (5th), OPS (3rd), RBIs (5th), XBH (4th), H (4th), 2B (t-3rd), and HR (t-10th). Rumfield was drafted by the Phillies in the 12th round of the 2021 First-Year Player Draft out of Virginia Tech, and was traded to the Yankees in a November deal which sent RHP Nick Nelson and C Donny Sands to Philadelphia. HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELLS: After a slow start to the season, Austin Wells has put together three straight strong games at the plate. Since Sunday’s series finale with Rome, the catcher is 6-for-11 in his last three games, with a double, three walks, two strikeouts and two stolen bases. With the outburst, he has raised his season batting line from .148/.273/.222 to .263/.383/.342, a 230-point jump in OPS. Wells is the Yankees No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, who also ranks him as the No. 95 prospect in all of baseball, and the No. 10 overall catching prospect in the game. RECORD-SETTING SEASON: To nobody’s surprise, the Hudson Valley Renegades set 19 new franchise hitting records during the 2021 season, the first in team history as a full-season affiliate. The team and individual players set 19 new single-season hitting records, and 20 new single-season pitching records. Among the most ludicrous was the single-season mark for most team home runs hit (156 -- previous record, 53 in 1999 and 2002), and most strikeouts recorded by the pitching staff (1,308 -- previous record, 693 in 1998).