Renegades Notes: McEachern Tonight, Bortnick's Defense, Colome

Sean T. McMann of the Poughkeepsie Journal says Jason McEachern will be the 4th youngest player in the New York-Penn League when he makes his first start tonight for the Hudson Valley Renegades:

The lanky (6-foot-2, 160-pound) hurler will get the ball tonight for his first start with Hudson Valley when the Renegades travel to Staten Island's 7,171-seat Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George.

"I'm just going to go out there and try to do my thing the best I can," said McEachern, the Rays' 13th-round draft pick last year out of St. Stephens High School in Hickory, N.C. "I'm very excited just to see what it's going to be like. I hear in Staten Island, you can see New York City and the Statue of Liberty in the background, so that's going to be an eye-opener."

Jeff Sackmann at The Hardball Times says Hudson Valley SS Tyler Bortnick was the best fielding college shortstop in 2007-08:

Interestingly, the best shortstop performance I found for the 2007-08 span, just a hair above Brandon Crawford's +23, was that of Coastal Carolina's Tyler Bortnick. His reward? Bumped to second base for the 2009 season. Bortnick was selected by the Rays in the 16th round of this year's draft.

Ultimately, though, the skills play. Bortnick is barely a dozen games into his professional career, but Tampa Bay has put him back at shortstop in the New York-Penn League.

The Times Herald-Record has this on the Renegades victory last night:

It was a wild night at Dutchess Stadium as the Hudson Valley Renegades scratched out a 2-1 New York-Penn League victory over the Staten Island Yankees in Fishkill.

Starting pitchers Alexander Colome of Hudson Valley and Trent Lare (1-2) of Staten Island were both ejected by home plate umpire Aaron Larsen after hitting batters. As a result, managers Brady Williams of Hudson Valley and Josh Paul of Staten Island were also tossed.

Colome's ejection put an end to a solid outing in which he struck out nine and allowed one hit over 5 2/3 innings. Angel Chapa (2-1) earned the win as a result.