Big Train Comeback to Beat Giants 8-5 and Clinch North Division

by Alex Rubinson

Connor Lehman giving a piggy-back ride by Mark Thalman

GAITHERSBURG, Md. - The Bethesda Big Train have won the North Division. The team clinched the division after outlasting the Gaithersburg Giants 8-5 on Friday.

Alex Angelidis got the start for the Giants. Alex Peltier (East Carolina University) led off the contest with a single to center. He tried to move into scoring position when he took off for second but was thrown out by Giants catcher Zach White. The caught stealing helped the Angelidis retire the Big Train in order.

Connor Lehman (University of Alabama) toed the rubber for the Big Train. He walked Nate Hawton-Henley and Brady Powell to begin his night. Lehman struck out Danny Orr for the first out. Bryce Rudisill loaded the bases with a hard line drive to center. After Lehman recorded the second out, he was one pitch away from escaping the threat with the game still scoreless. With two outs and the bases juiced, Lehman’s pitch traveled to the backstop to give the Giants the early lead heading into the second inning.

The Big Train hit the ball hard in the second, Emilio Gonzalez (Nova Southeastern University) and John Martinez (Florida Atlantic University) made loud contact but had no hits to show for it. As the game of baseball has shown in the past, it’s not always how hard you hit it but where you hit it. Peyton Steele (University of Alabama) hit a weak slow roller up the third base line for an infield single but did not advance any farther.

Lehman’s second frame started the same way as his first inning did. He walked White to start it off. After the runner advanced to second on a wild pitch, Martinez made an acrobatic play on a high chopper for the first out. Despite the athletic display, White advanced to third with fewer than two outs. Hawton-Henley brought him in on a single. Powell followed it up with a knock of his own. Martinez continued to show off his defensive instincts. When he fielded a grounder, he made the heads-up play to throw to third to get the lead runner. Lehman retired Rudisill to limit the damage.

The Big Train nearly went down in order in the third inning, but the throw from third on a grounder pulled Rudisill off the bag, allowing Peltier to reach for the second time of the game. Brennon Wright (University of South Alabama) made a bid for a double in the gap, but centerfielder Hawton-Henley ran it down to end the inning. Lehman settled in for a quick third frame.

Josh Skowronski (Winthrop University) tried to get the Big Train offense rolling with a leadoff walk in the fourth. Gonzalez chopped one up the middle to put the tying run on base with nobody out. After Martinez singled, Steele hit a soft liner to second for the out. Second baseman Aidan Marino tried to pickoff Martinez at first, but the throw was off line and went out of play. Everybody moved up two bases. Both Skowronski and Gonzalez were awarded home to tie the game up. One batter later, Matt Westley (undecided) singled home Martinez to give the Big Train the lead.

Josh Skowronski by Mark Thalman

James Beasley (Princeton University) relieved Lehman in the home half of the fourth. The tall righty retired the first two batters of the frame before issuing a walk to Hawton-Henley and surrendering a base hit to Powell. The Giants executed a double steal. Wright had trouble handling Dylan Murphy’s (Florida Atlantic University) short throw. Hawton-Henley displayed excellent base-running instincts and scored on the throw to knot the game up at three apiece heading into the top of the fifth.

When Sal Colangelo needed a rally, Skowronski was the guy who stepped up to the task. The three-hole hitter started the fifth in style with a standup triple. Later in the frame, the pitch got away. Skowronski bolted home to regain the Big Train lead.

Beasley walked two and hit a batter to load the bases with nobody out in the fifth inning. That marked the end of his night. Colangelo brought in Tyler Brashear (Eckerd College) to limit the damage. Brashear punched out Cade Hentz to start his appearance. The righty then lost the zone and walked White to tie the game. Brashear plunked Marino to give the Giants the lead. With one out, the Big Train got a gift. Hawton-Henley flew out to right. The fly ball was deep enough to score a run, but Marino took off for second and was thrown out before the runner crossed home plate. Had Marino not tried to tag, the run would have scored. Instead, the Big Train’s deficit was only 5-4.

In the sixth, Parker Corbin (University of Maryland) and Murphy drew consecutive one-out walks. Two batters later, Wright came up with the tying run 90 feet away and an opportunity to extend his on-base streak. The second baseman delivered with an RBI single to tie the Big Train on-base record at 30 consecutive games. Later in the frame, a pitch squirted past White, and Peltier scampered home to give the Big Train the lead. Gonzalez broke it open with a loud two-run double to give his team an 8-5 advantage.

“Leadership will take you a long way, not just in baseball but in life,” Colangelo said of Wright.

Emilio Gonzalez by Mark Thalman

Coming off a big offensive inning, Brashear tossed the shutdown frame his team needed. He struck out Powell to start it off. After a single up the middle, Brashear induced a ground ball double play to face the minimum.

The Giants worked around a Corbin single to keep the game at 8-5. Tanner Kaler (University of North Carolina Charlotte) came in after the seventh inning stretch. The lefty forced three flyouts and retired the side in order. Wright recorded his second hit of the night, but the Big Train went down quietly outside of it in the eighth inning.

Kaler ran into some trouble in the eighth. He tallied his first strikeout when he caught White looking to kickoff the home half of the eighth. After a one-out free pass, Kaler picked off the runner at first. With two outs and nobody on, Kaler surrendered a double and a walk to bring up the tying run. Colangelo made the decision to bring in James Gladden (University of Maryland). Gladden walked Orr to load the bases. The Giants had the go-ahead run in the batter’s box. Gladden got Rudisill to strikeout swinging and end the threat.

“When I hear that I’m next up, I start locking in from there,” Gladden said. “As soon as I hear my name called…it’s time to do my thing.”

James Gladden by Mark Thalman

Brett Ott (Sacramento State) smacked a pinch-hit single, but the Big Train could not bring him home. Gladden walked the first batter he faced in the ninth inning but followed it up with another strikeout. He then hit a batter and issued another walk. The winning run was at the plate. Pitching Coach Craig Lopez made a mound visit to calm down his right-hander. Gladden responded in a big way. He recorded a strikeout and grounder back to himself to end the game.

“He was pressing a little bit,” Colangelo said. “He played hard. James is a great, great, great pitcher.”

The Big Train got their revenge after they lost to the Giants 2-1 on Tuesday. The win snapped the Giants’ seven-game winning streak. The Big Train made just one error compared to five by the Giants. Although the pitching may not have been as sharp as it's been in the past, it shut out the Giants from the sixth inning on.

The Big Train will stay on the road when they face the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts today at 7 p.m.