Big Train dominate Aces to continue winning streak

On a warm, June evening, Bethesda Big Train traveled to the home ballpark for the Alexandria Aces and overpowered the Aces in a 10-3 win. Big Train is now 4-0 in the league and the Aces are now 1-3.

Big Train secured their lead early on in the game, with Tyler Villaroman (University of San Francisco) scoring a run in the first innning off a hit from teammate Carson Taylor (Virginia Tech University), who got an RBI off the play.

In the second inning, John Glenn (California Baptist University) gets on first base with a walk, and Taylor, up at bat next, hits a grounder out towards second base. The ball bounced over the glove of an Aces outfielder, Glenn scores a run, and Taylor gets on second, bringing the Big Train lead to 2-0, and Taylor earned his second RBI of the game. Jacob Westerman (University of San Francisco) continued the offensive power for Big Train by hitting a ball deep into centerfield and gets an RBI with Taylor scoring. Big Train continued scoring in the fourth inning with new player for the Train AJ Lee (University of Maryland) scoring a run off a hit from Justin Wylie (University of Arizona).

In the fifth inning, Big Train continues solidifying their lead with Westerman scoring a run off a hit from Lee.

Brock Guffey (University of Alabama), the starting pitcher for Big Train, and the smart defensive work of the team kept the Aces scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning.

Neither team scored again until the top of the seventh inning, when Lee earned a run off a grounder towards third base by Tyler Reis (Waynesburg University).

Big Train now leads the game 6-1. The Aces made a strong attempt at a comeback in the eighth inning with two players scoring runs for their team and narrowing the lead to only 6-3, but the Big Train defense remained solid and kept the Aces from scoring for the rest of the game.

Big Train answered back in the ninth inning with four runs from four different players. Andrew Shebloski (St. Mary’s College (CA)), Lee, Reis, and Villaroman all scored in the ninth inning to clinch the win for Big Train.

Big Train’s offense put a lot of practice in in this game with using the walk. Big Train players were walked to first 17 different times in this game against the Aces. Head Coach Sal Colangelo, who was glad to see his players getting on base “any way they can,” but more importantly to Colangelo is that they continued to have a “good approach” and a “quality at bat” during the game.

Colangelo was pleased with his players on the game tonight, especially Taylor and Lee. Both players had some amazing hits for the team. Taylor earned two RBIs, and Lee scored three runs and earned one RBI. Colangelo is glad to have both players on his team, commending Taylor for “seeing the ball well, making adjustments when need be, especially with the change up, and he’s getting results.” Taylor’s approach at the beginning of the game, earning two RBIs and a walk, was “to do his job [hitting cleanup]… and drive the ball in a gap” to make sure his teammates could score, which was very successful in this game. Lee, who played his first game of the season with Big Train tonight, showed that he was a force to be reckoned with on the field. His teammates are very excited to get to know him better and play with him as the summer goes on. Taylor remarked that Lee has “really special talent, and it was fun to get to know him and watch him play. I think we’re going to have a good season.”

Big Train continues their season with their next game at Shirley Povich against the Rockville Express on Saturday, June 9th at 7 pm. The team will be celebrating their 20th season tomorrow night, so be sure to come out to the field and support your Bethesda Big Train!