BIG TRAIN BEATS THUNDERBOLTS 9-2 IN PLAYOFF GAME
Box Score

There was a reason why the teams in the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League fought so hard all summer to finish first or second in the regular season standings. And the reason became crystal clear to all Monday afternoon. The bottom four seeds battled each other in the heat and humidity of afternoon games (the temperature on the Povich Field scoreboard hit 102 degrees). The top two seeds had the afternoon off and waited to take on the winners. With upsets in both afternoon games, the number one seeded Big Train then routed the Thunderbolts 9-2 and the Express beat the Redbirds 8-5. The afternoon losers teed it up at Shipley Field at night, and the Orioles won a 2-1 ten inning game that eliminated the College Park Bombers from the playoffs.

At Povich Field, Evan Frederickson (Virginia Tech) provided the arm and Brian Dozier (Southern Mississippi) and Cory Lane (UNC-Charlotte) provided the bats as the Big Train wore down the understandably weary T'Bolts. Frederickson gave up but three hits and a single run in five innings while striking out five. Thunderbolt starter Jeremiah Meiners (Coastal Carolina) got himself in a jam in the bottom of the second by hitting Preston Pehrson (Texas) and walking Luke Adkins (Southern Mississippi) and Josh Dietz (Bowling Green) to load the bases. Meiners struck out the next two Big Train batters, but Dozier doubled in Pehrson and Adkins. Lane then singled home Dietz and Dozier to give Bethesda a 4-0 margin. The T'Bolts got one back in the fifth when leadoff batter Tyrone Wethers (New Orleans) doubled and scored on a double play groundout. In the bottom of the sixth, Adkins led off with a triple, scored on a single by Dietz who scored on a single by Dozier. Lane then doubled home Dozier and scampered home on a throwing error. Chris Cullen (Michigan State) gave up but one unearned run in four innings of effective relief to pick up the save. Steven Leach (Jacksonville State) walked to lead off the eighth and scored on another double by Lane. Lane was 3-for-5 with four RBIs, and Dozier was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.




SS-T Thunderbolts (1-1) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 -- 2 8 2
Bethesda Big Train (1-0) 0 4 0 0 0 4 0 1 x -- 9 11 2



WP: Frederickson
LP: Meiners
Save: Cullen
3B: Adkins (BBT)
2B: Dozier (BBT), Wethers (SST), Lane (two) (BBT)

Attendance: 410

Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes


Big Train Notes: Some time before 7:30 p.m. Monday night, the 15,000th fan entered Povich Field to see a Big Train game this summer... The Big Train averaged 626 fans at the 20 CRSL regular season games at Povich Field in 2006. In 2005, the average for 20 home league games was 601. In 2004, the home average for 21 league games was 615... Because of the hot weather, we launched an Official Big Train Misting Machine Monday night that was very popular with the young fans in attendance... Maryland Delegate Bill Bronrott (Maryland General Assembly District 16) threw out a ceremonial first pitch.