WEDNESDAY WIN OVER REDBIRDS SETS STAGE FOR BIG GAME THURSDAY WITH ROCKVILLE EXPRESS
Box Score

The Maryland Redbirds took advantage of the Big Train pitcher's inability to throw strikes to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning and to stay within range through 7 innings on Wednesday night at Povich Field. A seven-run eighth inning put the game away for the Big Train and set up a Thursday afternoon contest against the Rockville Express with the Cal Ripken, Sr. League's regular season championship on the line. The Big Train's starting pitcher issued walks to four of the first five Redbird batters. Reliever Brian Anderson (San Francisco) came in with the bases loaded and retired the side on a strikeout and a flyout. In the bottom of the frame, Cory Lane (UNC-Charlotte) was hit by a pitch and scored on a single by Preston Pehrson (Texas). In the second, Josh Dietz (Bowling Green) and Steven Leach (Jacksonville State) singled and were singled home by Steve Fay (Mount St. Mary's). In the top of the fourth, EJ Folli (Buffalo) doubled and scored on a single by Ian Christie (Johns Hopkins). Bethesda responded in the bottom of the fourth when Leach reached on a two out error and scored on a double by Chris Taylor (UNC-Charlotte) to give Bethesda a 4-2 lead. Anderson pitched a scoreless fifth. Nick Cleckler (Jacksonville State) singled to leadoff the bottom of the fifth, stole second, and scored on a Luke Adkins (Southern Mississippi) single. In the sixth, the Big Train reliever loaded the bases on walks and a hit batsman. Reliever Hugh Adams (St. John's CHS) hit the first batter he faced to force in a run and close the gap to 5-3 before inducing an inning ending double play. Adams struck out two in the seventh, but an error led to an unearned run and a 5-4 Big Train lead. Adam Redd (Virginia Tech) set down the Redbirds in order in the top of the eighth. The Big Train broke it open in the bottom of the eighth. Brian Dozier (Southern Mississippi) doubled, Taylor walked, Lane was hit by a pitch again, Matt Long (Santa Clara) tripled home two, Pehrson walked, Adkins walked, and Dietz hit a towering grand slam home run high into the trees above the Ourisman Automotive banner in left-centerfield. Redd pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the save.


Maryland Redbirds (10-27) 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 -- 4 9 1
Bethesda Big Train (25-12) 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 7 x -- 12 14 1


WP: Anderson (3-1)
LP: Oleynik (4-3)
Save: Redd (2)
HR: Dietz (BBT)
3B: Long (BBT)
2B: Folli (MR), Taylor (BBT), Dozier (BBT)
Attendance: 617
Time: 3 hours, 5 minutes


Big Train Notes: The Big Train has won 10 of our last 13 games, and we have lost ground to the Rockville Express, winners of 11 of their last 13... With Wednesday night's victory, the Big Train matched the 2005 Cal Senior championship team's 25 victories (25-15). It looks like this year it will take 26 or 27 wins to capture the regular season title... First place Bethesda lost its first three games with the last place Redbirds, but won the last three to split the season series at four apiece... Wednesday night's game was sponsored by Next Door News... Fans were given a copy of the 2006 souvenir program and were allowed on the field before the game to get autographs... Wednesday's game was filmed by the Discovery Channel for use in an educational video about math... When 16-year-old Hugh Adams took the mound in the sixth inning of Wednesday's game he became the first player born in the 1990s to play in the Cal Ripken, Sr. League. The rising junior at St. John's College High School served as the bat boy for the 1999 inaugural season Big Train team.