Skowronski, Stewart lead Big Train to gritty extra-inning win

by Calvin Kaplan

Josh Skowronski by Mark Thalman

ROCKVILLE, Md. — With one man on and nobody out in the top of the 10th, Big Train right fielder Josh Skowronski (Winthrop) had the chance to deliver heroics and break a 13-13 tie.

Coming off his first home run of the season the day prior, Skowronski had already slammed another one in the second inning against the Metro SoCo Braves. On a day where both squads had already combined for 30 hits, it was only a matter of time before the dam burst once more.

The Frederick native calmly stepped to the plate. He took just two pitches before taking matters into his own hands.

Left-center. Go-ahead bomb. Bedlam.

“To see what he’s doing now, it’s just unbelievable,” Big Train head coach Sal Colangelo said. “It’s not by luck.”

Skowronski’s pair of towering home runs led his team to a 15-13 road victory over the Braves on Monday. Metro SoCo’s bats were thriving, but thanks to 19 hits of its own, the Big Train came back from multiple 4+ run deficits to snatch its 14th victory of the year.

Even more astoundingly, the team did all of this directly after back-to-back weekend doubleheaders.

“I actually felt pretty good today,” Skowronski said. “Came out, body felt good.”

“Fight. Piss and vinegar. They don’t give up,” Colangelo said.

Skowronski’s two homers were just the tip of the iceberg, as Big Train batters demonstrated their never-say-die mentality time and time again. A four-hit day from left-fielder Brett Ott (Sacramento State) proved to be instrumental. Beyond Skowronski and Ott, five other players had multi-hit games as well.

And then there was the late-game bullpen masterclass that sealed it all.

Right-hander Owen Stewart (George Mason) was practically untouchable, allowing just one hit in four frames pitched after coming in with no outs in the sixth inning. Stewart pounded his pitches in the zone with every ounce of effort he could summon, firing flawless 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth.

“He just changed the tempo a little bit,” Colangelo said. “Just motivated us with his will and his competitive nature on the bump.”

“The biggest thing for me is my visualization in the bullpen before I get out there,” Stewart said. “Felt good, so I just kind of threw my stuff down the middle, and my whole mentality is, ‘If you can hit it, you can hit it.’”

In the ninth, the righty continued to hold firm after a leadoff walk, picking up the first two outs before getting a boost from his defense. The game went to extra innings after an absolute dart of a throw from catcher Jacob Hauk (Maryland), who nailed the Braves’ pinch runner in his tracks as he sought to steal second.

From there, the Skowronski home run was the spark, and the two-strikeout save from right-hander James Gladden (Maryland) was the dagger.

“James Gladden, man, what can you say?” Colangelo said. “Coming back off an injury a year and a half ago. Every time out he gets better and better. That man is blessed with an arm.”

Five combined scoreless frames from Stewart and Gladden ended up being the difference, giving the Big Train’s offense just enough cushion to put the contest away.

“My changeup was something that I haven’t shown anybody yet this year,” Stewart said. “I had a couple strikeouts on my changeup, but my sweeper and my slider are my two main pitches that I always throw, and they seemed to be money tonight, so that really helped me out.”

With a 14-6 record, the Big Train currently sits atop the Cal Ripken League standings. The team has won 13 of its past 16 games, looking more and more unstoppable by the day. It’ll seek to bring that momentum into today’s game against the D.C. Grays, which is set to take place at home at 7 p.m.

Click HERE to read the full inning-by-inning recap of Monday’s thriller!