Recap: Big Train takes CRSCBL championship with one last dominant performance

by Calvin Kaplan

Team celebration by Mark Thalman

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — At long last, the Bethesda Big Train secured its 12th Ripken League Championship, taking down the home Alexandria Aces 15-3 on Monday to finish off a 2-0 series sweep and a third straight title.

“It’s pretty amazing how it came together so soon, and I’m just blessed to be a small part of it, the coaches are blessed to be a small part of it, but these guys [are] resilient,” Big Train head coach Sal Colangelo said. “They came here to work on their craft. They came here to get better. Winning is contagious, and we’re just extensions of their programs.”

Colangelo’s perennial powerhouse was led by a three-hit day from second baseman Brennon Wright (South Alabama). Right fielder Peyton Steele (Alabama), third baseman Parker Corbin (Maryland) and center fielder Alex Peltier (East Carolina) added multi-hit days as well.

“My goals were just to kind of build off my college season,” Peltier said. “I ended up playing a lot, but it wasn’t really how I wanted it to be, and really tuning back to being myself was the biggest goal this summer, and I think that I achieved that.”

On the mound, left-hander Connor Lehman (Alabama) fired five gutsy innings of two-run, seven-strikeout ball on just one day of rest. Right-hander Owen Stewart (George Mason) closed things out with two hitless frames to ensure the seven-inning victory.

“I just made a whole new family out here,” Lehman said. “I’ll go on [with] them [for] life.”

The top of the first kicked off scoreless for the Big Train, but Lehman went 1-2-3 in the latter half of the inning, picking up a strikeout against Derek Almeda. The teams traded scoreless frames in the second, but in the top of the third, the Big Train broke things open with huge RBI singles from Peltier and Wright. Wright’s single drove in two runs, and he later scored on an error, putting his team ahead 4-0.

Lehman struck out two batters in a scoreless bottom of the third. Soon after, Corbin hammered an RBI single to left field, bringing in designated hitter Matt Westley (Undecided).

In the bottom of the fourth, Lehman held the Aces without a run once again, fueled by a 5-4-3 double play and an inning-ending strikeout. The Big Train went scoreless in the fifth, and the Aces finally got on the board in the latter half of the frame, picking up a pair of runs to cut their deficit to 5-2.

Westley and Corbin fired back in the sixth, picking up RBI singles to extend the Big Train’s lead to five. Peltier drove in another run on a groundout, and after RBI singles from Wright and left fielder Josh Skowronski (Winthrop), the Big Train led 10-2.

Right-hander Tyler Brashear (Eckerd) and Stewart pitched the bottom of the sixth. Brashear was charged with a run, but ultimately, the Big Train held strong, leading 10-3 after six.

In the seventh, RBI singles from Peltier, Wright, Skowronski and Steele made the score 15-3 in favor of the Big Train, with Steele’s hit driving in two runs. Stewart was cool as a cucumber, picking up a strikeout, a groundout and a season-ending flyout to send bedlam into motion in Alexandria.

“I hope they go back — every one of them — and have great falls, have a lot of success and help their universities and colleges win,” Colangelo said.