Late Home Run Not Enough As Big Train Falls to Cropdusters

Box Score

OLNEY, Md.— The Bethesda Big Train dropped a low-scoring affair Friday night to the Cropdusters, losing 3-2, at First Responder Field. 

The Big Train was able to put up runs in the first and last innings of play but couldn’t find a groove all night long, falling back to 11-11 on the season. Manager Sal Colangelo just saw it as an off night offensively. 

“That’s the game of baseball if you’ve been around it long enough, you’re not going to hit every day. We ran into three guys that probably didn’t break 85 miles per hour and we didn’t make the adjustments,” said Colangelo. 

The scoring opened up in the first inning for the Big Train, with second baseman Jordan Crossland (Maryland) sending a single, which allowed Andrew Williamson (Central Florida) to run home. The RBI was one of three hits on the night for the Maryland sophomore, who is hitting .289 on the year.

“We’ve just got to do a better job as a team as a whole hitting people in when they are in scoring position, and that’s why we’re playing every day, so we’ll make the adjustment pretty quick,” said Crossland.

It was a rare off night offensively for the Big Train, who had put up double-digit runs in their past four games.

Bethesda’s pitching has found its stride recently, with Evan Smith (Maryland) recording three strikeouts while only allowing one run in four innings of work. Crossland was very complimentary of his team’s defense, saying “We just need to continue to pick the pitchers up. They do a lot for us keeping us in games all throughout the season, so it’s always good to pick them on the back end.”

As the game went into the ninth inning, Colangelo brought in some of his hardest hitters who were not in the starting lineup tonight. Kenan Bowman, the sophomore out of East Carolina, was called on in the 9th to kickstart the offense. He did just that, launching a home run to bring the Big Train back to within one.

“We were trying to get a righty lefty matchup and it paid off there on that one at-bat, it happens. It's baseball, and we move on,” Colangelo said.

This loss snaps a two-game winning streak for the Big Train, but Colangelo knows his team will make the proper adjustments. 

“We just need to be doing the little things at the plate, shorten our swings up, it got long a little bit today,” said Colangelo.

The Big Train will be back at home Saturday night to take on the Gaithersburg Giants. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Shirley Povich Field.

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