3 Run Blast Dooms Big Train by David Ireland On a cool Friday night in Severn, MD at Joe Cannon Stadium the Big Train lost to the Maryland Redbirds 5-2. The big hit to put the Redbirds on top came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Gavin Swanson (George Washington) unleashed a three-run homer over the center field wall. From there on out the Big Train bats were quieted and were unable to mount a late rally. It was the third game in a row between the two teams, but Big Train starting pitching continued to baffle the Redbirds hitters early. Starter Ben Tootle (Jacksonville State) picked up where Bethesda left off on Thursday night, giving up no runs through the first four innings. On the other side Nate Curd (Towson) also pitched well for the Redbirds striking out five of the first seven batters he faced and only gave up one run in the second inning on a RBI ground out to Pat Minogue (Northern Illinois) to score Chris Duffy (Central Florida) for the first run of the game. By the time his outing was over Curd had gone five innings and allowed one run on only two hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. In the bottom of the fifth Tootle was tagged with a run off an RBI base hit by Brad Rifkin (Brown) to give each team one run apiece. That was the end of the night for Tootle as he went five innings and gave up the one base hit to drive in an unearned run. He only walked two and struck out four, but his night was done. Then in the top of the sixth Andrew Foster (Bowling Green) walked with one out, got to third on a Chance Harst (Southern Mississippi) base hit to right field and then Clay Whittemore (Jacksonville State) hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Foster from third to re-take the lead for the Big Train. The bottom of the sixth started off easy for the Big Train as relief pitcher Brett Smalley (Jacksonville State) quickly retired the first two batters, but a miscue in the field kept the inning alive and then the next batter was hit by a pitch, which led to a two on two out situation as Swanson stepped to the plate. Smalley, who was taking the mound for the first time since being away sick, was welcomed back with a titanic blast off the bat of Swanson for a three-run homer to put the Redbirds ahead for good. From there, Redbirds relievers were able to keep the Big Train off the board by pitching three shutout innings. The Redbirds also added an insurance run with a RBI squeeze bunt by Rifkin in the bottom of the eighth. Offensively, Big Train shortstop Steven Leach (Jacksonville State) had two hits on the night with a triple and a stolen base. First baseman, Evan Friedland (Michigan State) got on base three times via the walk and had a stolen base. Big Train 2 5 3 Redbirds 5 5 1 W: Harris L: Smalley Box Score

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