Willy Vasquez homered in the first inning and secured two more hits to help carry the Bowling Green Hot Rods to an 8-2 victory over the Hudson Valley Renegades on Sunday afternoon at Heritage Financial Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.

The Hot Rods (43-36 overall, 12-6 second half) scored first in the top of the first inning against Renegades starter Juan Carela. Dru Baker singled and moved up to third on a base hit by Brock Jones. Baker scored on a throw down to second by the catcher Augustin Ramirez, making it a 1-0 ballgame. Vasquez smacked a solo shot to left, putting Bowling Green up 2-0.

In the top of the second, Blake Robertson earned a 3-0 lead for the Hot Rods with a solo home run.

Carson Williams lead-off the top of the third with a double and scored on an RBI base hit by Vasquez. After Vasquez was thrown out trying to steal second, Kenny Piper launched a solo home run over the left-field wall to make it 5-0.

The Renegades (49-35, 10-8) plated two runs off Hot Rods starter Ben Peoples in the bottom of the third, but Bowling Green answered back in the top of the fifth off Carela. Vasquez was hit by a pitch and moved up to second on a walk from Dominic Keegan. Piper singled, plating Vasquez to make it a 6-2 ballgame.

Bowling Green scored again in the top of the sixth off Hudson Valley reliever Clay Aguilar. Baker tripled and scored on a two-run homer off the bat of Jones to increase the Hot Rods’ lead to 8-2. Hot Rods reliever Antonio Menendez tossed a scoreless ninth to push Bowling Green to an 8-2 win.

Austin Vernon (5-2) earned the win, picking up a strikeout and a walk over two scoreless frames. Carela (2-4) took the loss, allowing six runs on eight hits, three walks and totaling five strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings.

The Hot Rods enjoy a day off on Monday before traveling to Leidos Field for a six-game road series against the Aberdeen IronBirds. Game one is set for Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. CDT.