Walk-off homer lifts Big Train

GAME RECAP  7-1-2015

By Anna Dunlavey; @annadunlaveyy

The first place Bethesda Big Train ended their 6-5 win over the DC Grays last night the same way they started it –with a home run. For the Grays, who put up a good fight and lead for much of the game, it was another gut-wrenching loss. The game concludes a week-long road series for the Grays, who are now 9-16 on the season.
​The Grays got off to a great offensive start. DH Tony Holton (Jackson State) got the first hit of the game, a single, and C Kurt Sinnen (Old Dominion) singled right after him. RF Quinn Carpenter (Texas Tech) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Holton scored on a wild pitch during LF Lamar Briggs’ (Jackson State) at bat, and both Carpenter and Sinnen scored on a single from 3B Keifer Rawlings (Bucknell). Before the Big Train had come up to bat, the Grays already had three runs on the board.

​This wasn’t, however, the safety net the Grays might have hoped for. The Big Train kicked off the bottom of the first with a leadoff home run and scored one more before the inning was over. The Grays made it 4-2 in the third when Briggs slid home on a wild pitch. The Big Train immediately took back that run, scoring in the bottom of the third, and took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth.

Late in the game, Briggs and Scottie Sanders (Southeastern Louisiana) pushed the game to extra innings. Briggs doubled, and Sanders doubled to drive him in and tie the game on a bang-bang play at the plate. Although the Grays played good defense, including impressive glovework by SS Jackson Kramer (Lafayette), nobody could reach the Big Train home run that sailed out of the park in the bottom of the tenth to send the home crowd home happy and the Grays to another tough defeat.

​Connor Van Hoose (Bucknell) started the game and threw for six innings. He gave up five runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out two. Harry Thomas (UNC- Greensboro) pitched the next two innings, and struck out two batters, giving up no runs, hits, or walks. Reid Frazier (Penn State) took over on the hill in the top of the ninth. He was tagged with the loss in the 10th innings after he gave up the Big Train’s walk-off homer. It was the only hit he gave up. Frazier also struck out three batters.

Tonight, the Grays return home after a week away from the Nationals Youth Academy. They’ll play the Rockville Express, and Layton Dill (East Mississippi CC) is expected to start.