NEWS

 

Written by Jack Stashower | Photo by Maya Brichacek

 

The Bethesda Big Train defeated the Gaithersburg Giants 19-11 at Shirley Povich Field on Wednesday, placing the Big Train as sole leaders of the North Division. 

 

The Giants came into this contest coming off of a high-scoring 20-10 loss to the Alexandria Aces at Frank Mann Field. The Big Train’s last game was an offensive outpour against the Metro SoCo Braves, where they won 20-7 at home. 

 

It was the Giants who got on the board first following a ground ball by Aaron Babaev (San Mateo) which brought in Brady Powell (Radford). Former hitter of the week Collin Hughes (VCU) scored on a balk, bringing the Giants lead to two.

 

The Big Train, coming off a 20 run performance, remained hungry for more. One hit – a double – off the bat of Emilio Gonzalez (Florida Atlantic) brought in Brennon Wright (South Alabama), Brett Ott (Sacramento State), and Owl teammate John Martinez (Florida Atlantic) giving the Big Train a 3-2 lead. Gonzalez would score on a wild pitch during the next at bat. 

 

Josh Skowronski (Winthrop) continued the fun for the Big Train, singling in Peyton Steele (Alabama) to make the score 5-2. A ground ball by Matthew Westley brought home Logan Ponnett (UNC Charlotte) to increase the lead to four. 

 

Up to bat for the second time in the inning, Wright doubled to right field, bringing home Skowronski to make it 7-2. The final run of the inning came off of a sacrifice fly by Martinez, which brought home Jacob Hauk (Maryland) and increased the lead to six. 

 

The Giants would slowly crawl back into the game in the top of the second. With the bases loaded, Hughes was hit by a pitch on a 1-0 count, bringing in a run to decrease the deficit to five. Andrew Holub (Iowa) singled to right field in the next at bat, bringing home Danny Orr (UMBC) and Powell. With just one and a half innings played, 13 runs had already been scored.

 

The Big Train would keep the scoring going in the bottom of the second. A deep double to right-center field off of Skowronski’s bat brought home Steele to make it 9-5. A single to center by Wright brought home Ponnett and Skowronski to increase the lead to six. Ott grounded out to drive home Westley to bring the score to a staggering 13-5 after just two innings played.

 

In the bottom of the third, the Big Train would add one more run to their tally off of a Westley single to left, bringing home Skowronski. 

 

The Giants took advantage of a fielding error in the top of the fourth. An errant throw by the shortstop after a ground ball hit by Ethan McNally (Clarion) brought in Powell and Hughes to cut the lead in half. 

 

Gonzalez made sure the Big Train got those two runs right back in the bottom half of the fourth. A deep double to center field brought home Wright and Ott and brought the score to 16-7. 

 

The fifth inning was the first and only complete inning of the game to feature no runs scored for either team.

 

The scoring would resume in the top of the sixth for the Giants. A double to right field off of Babaev’s bat brought home Holub to cut the lead in half. McNally’s single easily brought home Babaev to make the score 16-9. 

 

Like clockwork, the Big Train responded with runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. A double to left field by Steele brought in Martinez and Gonzalez to bring the score to 18-9. 

 

In the top of the seventh, a ground out by Holub brought in Powell for the Giants 10th run of the game. Despite scoring an impressive 10 runs, the Giants still needed to score eight more to tie the game. 

 

Once again, the Big Train scored a run of their own to outdo the Giants comeback progress. Ott singled to left and brought home Hauk to make the score an unbelievable 19-10. That would be the Big Train’s final run of the game. 

 

In the top of the eighth, a triple hit by Ryan Maxey (St Johns River State) brought in Nate Hawton-Henley (Maryland) to bring the score to 19-11. The Big Train would not respond with a run in the bottom half. 

 

In a game that didn’t feature many pitching highlights, Big Train pitcher Michael Kass (Central Florida) got one of his own, only allowing one hit in his one inning on the mound, striking out McNally to end a marathon game. 

 

Five players for the Big Train recorded multiple RBIs over the course of the game. Gonzalez led the team in RBIs with four on the night. 

 

The Giants look to rebound on Thursday against the Olney Cropdusters at First Responder Field. The Big Train will face North Division foe the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts in a top heavy matchup at Blair Stadium.