Big Train Stage Late Comeback, Rally to Beat Grays 8-5

by Alex Rubinson

Alex Peltier and Parker Corbin celebrate win with teammates by Mark Thalman

ROCKVILLE, Md. - The Bethesda Big Train were down to their final six outs in game one of their seven-inning doubleheader against the D.C. Grays on Sunday. Losing 5-3, the Big Train had the bottom of their order due up. Sal Colangelo’s lineup decided to play small ball. John Martinez (Florida Atlantic University) got the party started with a bunt base hit. After Parker Corbin (University of Maryland) walked, Jacob Hauk (University of Maryland) laid down a sacrifice bunt. Grays pitcher Alex Bergen fired to third to try to get the lead runner. The throw sailed wide of the base. Martinez came all the way around to score. With two runners in scoring position, Alex Peltier (East Carolina University) chopped one to the shortstop. The speedster beat out the grounder to plate another run and knot the game up at five. With still nobody out and the go-ahead run 90 feet away, the Big Train had the right man up. Brennon Wright (University of South Alabama) dug in. He already extended his on-base streak to 23 games in a row earlier in the contest. The lefty laced an RBI single past the shortstop to give the Big Train the late lead. As the line rolled on, the Big Train added two more insurance runs via a wild pitch and a Matt Westley (undecided) fielder’s choice grounder.

“I’m trying to keep it simple,” Wright said. “[The on-base streak] is always in the back of my mind, but at the end of the day, I’m trying to be the spark plug.”

The Big Train prevailed to steal game one of Sunday’s twin bill 8-5 over the Grays.

“Nothing changed [in our approach],” Colangelo said. “We just had to do the little things, drive some runs in and execute.”

Brennon Wright by Mark Thalman

In the top of the seventh, Cole Ketchum (University of Mississippi) toed the rubber for his third inning of work. Ketchum retired the first two batters of the frame with a couple of routine fly balls. With the Big Train one out away from completing the comeback, Ketchum surrendered a single and issued a walk. That brought the tying run to the plate in Tyler Wiltsey. The centerfielder had already gone deep once in the contest. Ketchum quickly got ahead of Wiltsey. On the 0-2 pitch, the Grays hitter tapped one to Martinez who flipped to Corbin at second for the final out.

“Sometimes I like to make things hard on myself. It gets me more amped up,” Ketchum joked. “The goal was really just to stay focused.”

Earlier in the game, the Big Train found themselves down 1-0. In the second, they had two runners in scoring position. Peltier hit a fly ball that did not travel very deep, Corbin made the aggressive decision to tag up. Grays outfielder Andy Rivera came up firing to the plate. The throw was on target, but Corbin displayed excellent body control to avoid the tag and slide across the plate to knot the game up at one apiece. Later in the inning, Wright smacked an 0-1 pitch right back up the middle to give the Big Train a 2-1 lead.

Parker Corbin sliding into home with directions from Brennon Wright by Mark Thalman

The Grays responded in the top of the fourth. After Rivera led off with a single against Russell Petersen (Whitman College), Wiltsey blasted a no-doubt two-run shot well over the left field fence. The long ball was just the Grays' second team homer of the season. Later in the inning, the Grays loaded the bases for the top of the order and Ryan Soong. The Grays shortstop popped one high in the air on the infield. With the game having started at 10 a.m., the sun was shining bright. Corbin appeared to have a beat on it but lost it in the sun’s brightness and couldn’t make the catch. Two more runners scored to make it a 5-2 game.

With his team down by three, Ketchum made sure to keep them in the game. The right-hander worked around three hits and two walks to put up zeros for his ball club.

“Cole comes into situations like that and pounds the zone and mixes his pitches,” Colangelo said. “We want to put him in a position to be successful.”

Cole Ketchum by Mark Thalman

Both Wright and Logan Ponnett (University of North Carolina Charlotte) each tallied multi-hit games in the victory. Both also recorded RBIs, as Peltier drove in two runs of his own in the win. Wright has reached base in every game he’s played in this season.

“His plate awareness is really good,” Colangelo said. “He knows what he is doing.”

The Big Train will continue their homestand when they face the Alexandria Aces later today at 7 p.m.