Drew Bellis Shoves, Big Train Bats Erupt in Commanding 13-1 Mercy Rule Win over Senators

by Alex Rubinson

Big Train Celebrate Game Two Win by Mark Thalman

ROCKVILLE, Md. - The Bethesda Big Train pounded the Southern Maryland Senators 13-1 on Sunday night. The victory came in mercy rule fashion and ended in the sixth inning. The win comes on the heels of a 7-1 victory earlier in the day that wrapped up a suspended game from June 13.

Drew Bellis (University of Central Florida) got the start for the Big Train in game two of Sunday’s doubleheader. The lefty issued a leadoff walk. Adam Troch laid down a bunt to the third base side of the rubber. Both Bellis and Logan Ponnett (University of North Carolina Charlotte) charged the slow roller and collided. With nobody out, the runner on first made it all the way to third when no one covered the bag. The runner advancing proved costly, as the run came into score on a sacrifice fly by Logan Tribble. Bellis regained form after he picked off Troch at first and struck out Steven Kraus to end the inning. The Big Train’s offense had a quiet first inning after being retired in order.

Bellis returned to form in the second. After he struck out the final batter in the first, the lefty punched out the side in the second inning. He was in total command by getting a swing and miss on a pitch in the dirt and freezing another hitter with a devastating curveball.

Emilio Gonzalez (Florida Atlantic University) led off the second by doubling off the wall to the deepest part of the ballpark in straightaway centerfield. With two outs, Parker Corbin (University of Maryland) hit a routine grounder right to the second baseman. The Senators’ Cale Vinson booted the ball, which allowed Corbin to reach on the error and Gonzalez to score to tie the game at one. Later in the frame, Dylan Murphy (Florida Atlantic University) lined a two-run single to give the Big Train the lead.

Bellis stayed in total command in the third. For the second consecutive inning, Bellis struck out the side for seven strikeouts in a row. The UCF product was in an incredible rhythm. As soon as he got the ball, he was already on the mound ready to fire his next pitch. The Big Train’s bats went down in order in the bottom half of the inning.

Drew Bellis by Mark Thalman

In the fourth, the Senators got two men on due a hit by pitch and an error after a comebacker bounced off of Bellis’ glove. The southpaw rebounded with two more strikeouts and a flyout to escape the jam.

In the bottom half of the frame, the first two batters walked. When a pitch scooted away, catcher Jax Nichols threw to second, but the throw sailed into the outfield, which allowed Josh Skowronski (Winthrop University) to score. Matt Westley (undecided) pounded a double off the centerfield wall to bring home Corbin. Three batters later, Brennon Wright (University of South Alabama) stepped to the plate with the bases juiced and delivered a sacrifice fly to make it a 6-1 game. The Big Train added another run when Murphy scored on a wild pitch.

Bellis quickly struck out the first two batters to start the fifth inning. After two quick outs, Bellis issued two walks and a single to load the bases. The second walk ended his night. As he made his off the rubber, the Big Train fans gave him a much-deserved ovation. Tanner Kaler (University of North Carolina Charlotte) got the ball to preserve the Big Train’s six-run lead. Kaler forced Tribble to ground out to strand the bases loaded.

In the bottom of the fifth, Skowronski led it off with a single up the middle and advanced on a wild pitch. Westley brought him with his third double of the night to extend the Big Train lead.

“Just finding the barrel,” Westley said of his extra-base hits. “I’m not trying to lift it or do too much.”

Matt Westley by Mark Thalman

Kaler returned to the mound for the sixth frame and worked a clean inning. After Gonzalez was tagged with a two-out error, Kaler took matters into his own hands and picked off the runner trying to steal second.

Gonzalez and Peyton Steele (University of Alabama) both singled to open up the home half of the sixth. After a Corbin walk, Gonzalez trotted home via a wild pitch to put the Big Train up 9-1. Westley continued his red hot night at the dish with an RBI single to right field. Murphy followed it up with a run-scoring single of his own. The 12th Big Train run came home on a wild pitch before Wright hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 13-run night and a mercy rule win for the Big Train.

The Big Train scored 20 combined runs between the two games on Sunday. The offensive explosion comes after the team left 14 men on base against the Senators earlier in the week and only managed two runs in a loss.

“We weren’t very offensive. We were defensive,” Manager Sal Colangelo said of the team’s performance last Monday. “We wanted to be more aggressive, look at tendencies and make changes.”

The Big Train will hit the road later today to face the Metro South County Braves at 7 p.m. The team will return home to host the D.C. Grays on Tuesday, July 1 at 7 p.m.