Big Train takes Game 1 of championship series with 10-4 shellacking of Aces

by Calvin Kaplan

Russell Petersen by Mark Thalman

ROCKVILLE, Md. — Once again, the Cal Ripken Senior Collegiate Baseball League championship series features a rivalry for the ages.

For the fourth time in the past five years, the Bethesda Big Train faces the Alexandria Aces to decide the Ripken League champion. On Sunday, the Big Train put itself one step closer to a 2023-2025 CRSCBL three-peat, taking a dominant 10-4 victory and going up 1-0 in the best-of-three series after scoring nine runs between the fifth and seventh innings.

“It definitely feels good,” center fielder Alex Peltier (East Carolina) said. “Pitchers went out, did their job, kept them to low runs, and then we just did our job as an offense.”

Peltier, consistent as always, was the offensive leader on Sunday. The center fielder went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, two of which came on a two-run long bomb to dead-center, his first home run of the season.

“I just told myself, ‘I’ve got to see it up,’” Peltier said. “Only thing he’ll beat me with is a ball in the bottom of the zone, so I just saw it up and then hit it.”

“He’s got power,” Big Train head coach Sal Colangelo said. “He’s making adjustments all summer.”

Despite the final score, Sunday’s outcome wasn’t always certain. Still, the Big Train stayed in the thick of things thanks to six fantastic innings of one-run ball from right-hander Russell Petersen (Whitman). Petersen stood out in a big way, bouncing back from an outing against the Aces on July 20th in which he allowed four runs in one inning of work.

“I think it wasn’t really my stuff or anything, it was my mentality,” Petersen said. “[I] wanted to do better than I did last time I went out and pitched against these guys. I think it was just attention to my focus, and wanting it was my best stuff today. It wasn’t necessarily one pitch.”

“He kept the ball down very well tonight,” Colangelo said. “Had three pitches when he needed [them] and got outs, and he did a great job.”

Up 1-0 in the series, the Big Train will now have two chances to close out its 12th Ripken League title.

“I think we’re going to do the same thing we’ve done all year,” Petersen said. “I don’t think any game has felt any different. It’s just another one and one more to win it.”

Today’s game takes place on the road at 6:30 p.m. If necessary, the Big Train will return home on Tuesday to face the Aces at 7 p.m.

Click HERE to read the recap of Sunday’s win!