Big Train Fall to Giants 2-1

Russell Petersen by Mark Thalman

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Russell Petersen (Whitman College) started the makeup game for the Big Train. Petersen had a very efficient start to his night after he retired the first two batters on two pitches. After he hit Danny Orr, Andrew Holub worked an 11-pitch at bat. With the count full, Petersen won the battle and struck out Holub swinging to put up an early zero. 

Brody Fox toed the rubber for the Giants. With two outs, Josh Skowronski (Winthrop University) and Emilio Gonzalez (Nova Southeastern University) hit consecutive singles to put pressure on the Giants. Fox forced Logan Ponnett (University of North Carolina Charlotte) to fly out to retire the side.

Petersen and Fox exchanged scoreless second frames. Both pitches retired in the side in order. With the sun blazing in from right field, hitting conditions were not optimal for both lineups. Petersen mowed down the Giants in the third inning. He hadn’t tallied any strikeouts but worked around a two-out walk to get through the frame. Fox tossed a one-two-three frame to send the contest into the middle innings.

Petersen faced his first test in the fourth. After a one-out walk, Bryce Rudisill reached on a catcher’s interference and Ethan McNally singled to load the bases. Cade Hentz hit a liner to right field. Peyton Steele (University of Alabama) made the catch and threw a laser to home. Holub knew better and didn’t even test Steele’s arm. Petersen was one pitch away from keeping the game scoreless. He successfully forced Ryan Maxey to hit a shallow popup that Parker Corbin (University of Maryland) caught on the edge of the outfield grass to escape the threat. 

Petersen’s outing ended after the fourth frame. He only tallied one strikeout, but the righty only surrendered one hit and two walks.

"I'd love to get more strikeouts, but at the end of the day, pitching is about getting outs," Petersen said. "I'm happy with the result."

After Skowronski was hit by a pitch to get the leadoff man on base, Gonzalez grounded into a double play. Giants first baseman Rudisill fielded the grounder and made a very nice turn to start the twin-killer. 

As the Big Train entered the fifth inning scoreless, it was the furthest along in a game this season when neither team had scored. Tanner Kaler (University of North Carolina Charlotte) relieved Petersen and played with fire in his first inning of work. He allowed a hard hit grounder that bounced over the head of Corbin for a hit. Brady Powell hit a fly ball over Steele for a double. For the second consecutive inning, the Giants had two runners in scoring position with fewer than two outs. With the go-ahead run 90 feet away, Kaler forced Orr to hit a ground ball to third. Ponnett fielded the grounder, looked back the runner at third and fired to first for the second out of the inning. Kaler still wasn’t out of the woods with Giants cleanup Holub due up. The Big Train lefty got Holub swinging way out in front on a pitch in the dirt to keep the game scoreless. 

Tanner Kaler by Mark Thalman

In the home half of the fifth, it was the Big Train’s turn to put the pressure on their opponent. Steele blasted a one-out double to give his team a prime scoring opportunity. Corbin followed it up with a base hit to right field, but it was hit so hard that Steele had to be held up at third. Fox struck out JJ Hand for a very timely strikeout. He then got Alex Peltier (East Carolina University) to hit a lazy fly ball to right field for the third out of the inning. Both teams threatened in the inning, but neither club could break through. 

Kaler settled in the sixth and picked up where he left off. He struck out Rudisill for his second consecutive punchout. After he induced a weak ground ball to second, he caught Hentz looking for his third strikeout in four batters. 

Brennon Wright (University of South Alabama) walked to open the sixth to extend his on-base streak. Brett Ott batted in place of Skowronski after he was hit earlier in the game. Ott attempted to execute a sacrifice bunt, but catcher Ethan McNally fired a perfect throw to nab Wright at second. Fox retired the next two batters to get through six excellent frames. 

Jordan Capuano (Frederick Community College) came in for Kaler. After he walked the leadoff batter, the right-hander found the strike zone. He struck out Nate Hawton-Henley swinging in-between two infield popups to keep the game tied at zero.

Jordan Capuano by Mark Thalman

Matt Westley (undecided) led off the bottom of the seventh and lined a double down the left field line. He quickly advanced to third on a wild pitch with nobody out. Evan Cerretani, who had relieved Fox, had to settle down quickly. He forced Steele to pop out on the infield. Cerretani followed it up by striking out Corbin looking. With two out and the runner still 90 feet away, Sal Colangelo brought in Dylan Murphy (Florida Atlantic University) to pinch hit for Hand. Murphy hit a check swing grounder to first, as the Giants successfully stranded Westley at third base. 

Big Train relief ace Owen Stewart entered for the eighth inning. The righty looked as good as advertised. He made quick work of Orr, getting him to expand the zone and strike out swinging. After a routine fly out to center, Rudisill dug into the left-hander’s batter’ box. Stewart quickly got ahead in the count 1-2 and was ready to put the first baseman away. On the pitch, Rudisill took a big hack and sent one high and deep into the night sky. The ball barely cleared the fence to break the scoreless tie and give the Giants a 1-0 lead. The homer was the first run Stewart had given up on the season. 

Wright worked his second walk of the night with one out in the eighth. He got a fantastic jump to steal second and move into scoring position. Ott moved him to third with a ground ball to third. As Gonzalez looked to tie the game, the ball got away and traveled to the backstop. Wright sprinted home to knot the game at one apiece. 

Stewart came out for the ninth inning with the game tied once again. He walked Maxey and surrendered a single to Aidan Marino. Hawton-Henley hit a deep fly ball into Ott’s glove. He was one out away from sending the game to the ninth. Powell hit a grounder just out of the reach of Ponnett at third to give the Giants the 2-1 lead. 

The Big Train hit three ground balls in the ninth. The left side of the Giants infield made two off-balanced throws to gun down Westley and Steele at first. Corbin hit a routine groundball to his counterpart at second to end a tough 2-1 loss to the Giants. 

The Big Train will continue their homestand when they face the Olney Cropdusters today at 7 p.m.