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The Big Train earned their fourth victory in five games as they defeated the Gaithersburg Giants, 6-3.

Drew Strotman (St. Mary’s) earned his first victory of the season with a stellar performance on the mound. He pitched six innings giving up two runs on seven hits while fanning seven batters.

The Big Train showed excellent patience and plate discipline throughout the night, earning eight walks.

“We have been working diligently on our patience at the plate and it paid off tonight,” assistant coach Eric Williams said.  “We work on timing and getting good pitches to hit.”

They got the offense going early with a Clayton Daniel (Jacksonville St.) single and back-to-back walks drawn by Sean Labsan (FAU) and Michael Emodi (Creighton), loading the bases. Gunnar Lambert (FAU) hit a sac fly to the fence in right to score Daniel and make it 1-0.

In the second inning, Bethesda loaded the bases with a single, a walk and a hit batter. Labsan came to the plate and delivered. He earned his second walk of the game and his first RBI to put the Big Train up 2-0.

Bethesda continued to capitalize on Gaithersburg mistakes in the third inning. Lambert walked for the second time and advanced to third. Austin Hale (Stetson) hit a hard grounder back to the pitcher, reaching safely on an error and scoring Lambert.

Allen Smoot (San Francisco) struck next for the Big Train in the fifth inning. He crushed a solo shot to center field, his first home run of the season. The Big Train led 4-0.

After Gaithersburg gained ground on Bethesda with a two run sixth inning, Hale brought the lead right back up to four with a two run homer to right, his first of the year.

The Giants were threatening again in the bottom of the seventh with one out, men on first and third. Daniel ended the scoring threat with a heads up play. Gaithersburg’s batter hit a fly ball to the gap in right-center field when Daniel rushed to make the grab. The runner at first did not tag up and was called out at first on an unusual 8-6-3 double play.

However, the run scored and the Big Train lead was cut to three.

Mack Meyer (San Francisco) shut the door in the ninth inning, giving up one hit and no runs keeping his astonishing ERA.

“I think the whole staff knows [Meyer] can get to the ninth and he can shut the door,” Williams said. “They are pretty used to that. They know it's coming. With that confidence in a guy they feel good getting there."

The first place Big Train have a day off and then travel to Silver Spring to take on the Thunderbolts.