Stewart earns fourth save

Big Train 5, Thunderbolts 4

Box Score │ Season Stats

The two teams battled for 2 hours and 49 minutes, and it came down to the final pitch. With Bethesda leading 5-4 and two outs, T'Bolt runners stood at second and third. A solid single would win the game for Silver Spring-Takoma. An out would preserve the win for Bethesda. Big Train closer Wyatt Stewart (Richmond) saved his nastiest pitch for last to get the strikeout that ended the game.

The T'Bolts took an early 3-0 lead as Bethesda starter Dustin Pease (Mount St. Mary's) had an uncharacteristically rocky start. Pease walked the lead-off batter, Andrew Greene (Furman), who stole second and scored on an RBI single by Anthony Russell (East Tennessee State). Russell scored on a bases loaded walk. In the top of the third, Greene walked again, stole second, moved up on a single, and scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by Matt Capece (Bucknell).

Bethesda got even in the top of the third as Trey Cuevas (Southern Mississippi) and Jonnie Knoble (San Francisco) singled and Greg Lemon (Salisbury) walked to load the bases. T'Bolt starter Matt Peterson (Salisbury) hit Rhett Teller (St. Leo) with a pitch to score Cuevas. Two runs scored to tie the game on a fielding error by the Silver Sping-Takoma third baseman.

Nick Cleckler (Jacksonville State) led off the fourth inning with a single, stole second, and scored on a single by Cuevas. Teller led off the fifth with a single, advanced when Drew Carson (Southern Mississippi) was hit by a pitch, moved to third on a sacrifice, and scored on a ground out.

Pease settled in to pitch four scoreless innings and depart with a 5-3 lead. The T-Bolts greeted Bethesda reliever Jimmy Kelly (Middle Tennessee State) with a double and a single. Kelly held the runner at third with a strikeout, pop-up, and strikeout. The lead-off batter in the top of the eighth against reliever Chris Eberhart (Florida Atlantic) reached on an error, advanced to third on a single by Mickey Shupin (GW), and scored on a ground out. Capece reached on a fielder's choice and stole second. Eberhart limited the damage to the one unearned run by getting a strikeout, intentionally walking a batter, and getting a second strikeout. Closer Wyatt Stewart came in in the ninth with a 5-4 lead to face the bottom of the T-Bolt order. He walked the lead-off batter Sam Boone (University of Massachusetts/Amherst) who was sacrificed to second. The second out came on a fly ball to rightfield. Stewart walked Greene who stole second to put the winning run on second. Shupin, 3-for-5 on the night, came to the plate with a chance to become a hero. Stewart struck him out to end the game.

Bethesda Big Train (7-5) 0 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 -- 5 10 1
SS-T Thunderbolts (4-7) 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 -- 4 12 1
WP: Pease (2-0); LP: Peterson (0-2); Save: Stewart (4)
2B: Boone (SS-T), Shupin (SS-T), Capece (SS-T), McClanahan (SS-T)
Attendance: 167
Time: 2 hours, 49 minutes

Big Train Notes: With the win, Bethesda's record in The Montgomery Cup competition sponsored by The Gazette Newspapers is 5-1... Knoble was 3 for 5... 24 runners were left on base (16 T-Bolts; 8 Big Train)... Not a single Big Train player struck out... The four Big Train pitchers combined to strike out 13 T-Bolt batters (Pease, 8; Kelly, 2; Eberhart, 2; Stewart, 1).