Bethesda Blasts Bombs, Beats Gaithersburg 10-1.

Boxscore

Bethesda, MD – After four rainouts and six days off, the Bethesda Big Train (12-4) returned to action today with a 10-1 win against the Gaithersburg Giants (4-10) in game one of a doubleheader. Overall, the team felt happy to finally get some action. 

“It's so nice to be back on the field,” pitching coach Craig Lopez said. “I know my family loves me, but they were ready. You know. I was throwing their mojo off being home during the day for a couple of days.”

After a scoreless first, Bethesda opened the scoring in the bottom of the second. Jason Schiavone (James Madison) smacked a ball 360 feet over the left field fence to make the game 1-0.

Three scoreless innings later, a comedy of Big Train errors allowed the Giants to even the score in the top of the fifth. Gaithersburg catcher Bennett Shealor reached base after Dixon Williams (East Carolina) lost a pop fly in the sun. Shealor then meandered to third base after throwing errors from Max Martzolf (Florida Atlantic) on an attempted pickoff and first baseman Schiavone trying to throw out Shealor at second on the same play. Noah Lieb then brought Shealor home on a hard single to right field. 

But Bethesda bounced back and the Green and White immediately retook the lead in the bottom half of the fifth. Jeffery Heard (Sacramento State) launched his fourth dinger of the year, 101 miles per hour off the bat and 368 feet to deep right to drive in two runs and make the score 3-1. 

Bethesda continued to tack on after that. In the bottom of the sixth, the Big Train extended their lead to 6-1 after a Carter Cunningham (East Carolina) bases-loaded walk and a two-RBI single from Heard. In the next inning, Jacob Orr (Maryland) lined a double down the right field line to score two, and Heard laced an RBI single to make it 9-1 and give him his fifth RBI of the day. Clay Wargo (Louisiana Lafayette) added the finishing touches to Bethesda’s big win with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to make it 10-1. 

Patrick Galle (Ole Miss) started for Bethesda and pitched well despite struggling with his command. In three and two-thirds innings, Galle did not allow a run and struck out five. Galle utilized his fastball, which hovered around 96 miles per hour. However, Galle walked four batters, and 51% of his pitches were balls, something he is likely going to want to improve his next time out.

The bullpen shined for the Big Train after Galle departed. Martzolf, technically pitching in his second straight game after finishing last Monday's win, pitched aggressively and dominated in his three and a third innings pitched. Martzolf struck out six batters and allowed only one hit and no earned runs. Martzolf’s success came from pounding the strike zone and getting ahead in counts. He threw first-pitch strikes to 83% of the batters he faced. 

Evan Marcinko (Maryland), then, closed out the game for the Big Train with two scoreless innings. Marcinko struck out three and allowed no hit. All of Bethesda’s pitchers' performances today impressed the coaching staff.

“These guys have come a long way in a short amount of time,” Lopez said.

The Big Train’s day is not over yet. Bethesda continues their scheduled Grandparents Day doubleheader with a 1:30 game against the Giants later on Sunday.