Big Train halt Grays streak

GAME RECAP  7-11-2015​

By: Anna Dunlavey; @annadunlavey

The homestanding Bethesda Big Train brought the DC Grays’ 3-game win streak to a screeching halt last night when they beat them 11-3. The loss puts the Grays’ record at 13-19 on the season.

​Starting pitcher Maverik Buffo (Brigham Young) started strong, getting two of his four strikeouts on the night in the first inning. The Big Train then took over, scoring two runs in the second inning and one in the third after Buffo’s command betrayed him. Buffo lasted five innings, striking out a total of five batters and giving up the three runs on four hits. Connor Van Hoose (Bucknell), who started against the Big Train the last time the Grays visited Shirley Povich Field, came out in the bottom of the sixth, where the Big Train scored another run on a sacrifice fly.

​The Grays finally put a run of their own on the board in the top of the seventh. C Colton Shaver (Brigham Young) walked and reached second on a wild pitch. He scored on a single from 3B Keifer Rawlings (Bucknell). LF Lamar Briggs (Jackson State) and 2B Mike Caputo (Seton Hall) both followed with singles to load the bases with one out. The momentum was lost just as quickly as it was gained, however, as SS Jackson Kramer (Lafayette) hit into an inning-ending double play.

​Bethesda padded its lead in the seventh. Although Van Hoose got the first batter he faced, he gave up two singles and a triple, allowing two more runs to cross the plate. Reid Frazier (Penn State) came in to finish the inning. One of Frazier’s inherited runners scored on an error, and another scored on a passed ball. The score was 8-1 by the end of the inning.

​The Big Train continued to terrorize Frazier in the eighth, scoring one run on a double and another on a bases loaded walk. Steve Ghiardi (Millersville) took over for Frazier with two outs and the bases loaded. He ended the inning with a strikeout, but not before giving up a bases loaded walk of his own.

The Grays finally began to mount a comeback in the top of the ninth. They got two hits and scored two runs. DH Quinn Carpenter (Texas Tech) led off with a single, then stole second. PH Alex Woinski (Lafayette) was hit by a pitch to get two runners on. Kramer singled, scoring Carpenter, and Woinski also came home after a Big Train throwing error. That was, unfortunately, all that the Grays could muster.

Today, the Grays will return to the Nationals Youth Academy to play the Rockville Express for the final time this season. Zack Irwin (East Mississippi CC) is the probable starter for the Grays.