Bats, Homegrown Pitching Big in Doubleheader Sweep

Wednesday, June 15, 2009
by Jordan Henry
e-mail the Big Train writers at writers@bigtrain.org!
Box Score
With Hugh Adams (Florida Atlantic) in dominant form in his first start of the summer, the Big Train offense picked up right where it left off in game one of the doubleheader, touching Thunderbolts' pitching for eight hits, eight walks, and seven runs to sweep the doubleheader for Bethesda.

The offense got started in the third inning when Eli Boike (Michigan State) tripled to deep center and then scored on a passed ball. In the fourth, the Big Train essentially put the game out of reach with a total team effort, exploding for six runs and batting around. Ryan Mulligan (Saint Mary's (CA)), Jordan King (Meridian CC), Jack Mosbacher (Stanford), Danny Stienstra (San Jose State), and Boike all singled in the inning, while Connor Bernatz (San Francisco), Mike Celenza (Salisbury), and Jarrod Parks (Mississippi State) walked, with Luke Adkins (Mississippi State) adding a sacrifice fly.

Adams was terrific in his first start of the season, pitching four shutout innings with five strikeouts and only one walk to earn the win. He had Thunderbolts' hitters out in front all night with a great changeup, and only one Thunderbolt made it to second base with Adams on the hill thanks to an error. Ryan Vander Tuig (San Jose State) came on to pitch two great innings of relief, while Mike Matta (Mt. Saint Mary's) shut the door in the seventh.

The three pitchers combined for Bethesda's third shutout so far this season, and the pitching under first-year pitching coach Bill Sizemore has surrendered only 18 runs in 87 innings, or just under 2 runs per game. The doubleheader sweep put Bethesda back into first place for the time being in the CRSL at 8-2.