DC Struggles Late, Lose 8-2 to T-Bolts

By Peter Bartlett

An early pitchers' duel turned into a runaway late in the game Wednesday night, and the DC Grays found themselves on the losing end of a 8-2 decision against the Silver Spring Takoma Thunderbolts. A late offensive breakout pushed the Thunderbolts to an 8-2 win, as the Grays slip back under .500 at 3-4 this season.

               Brady Meyers (Lock Haven) started on the mound for the Grays, and he kept the Grays in the game with five strikeouts in his three innings of work. The night got off to a rough start, however, after a leadoff triple allowed the Thunderbolts to jump ahead 1-0 on a sac fly. The bases were then loaded with two men out. Ethan Nagy (Lock Haven) playing first flashed the leather to rob the Thunderbolts of a hit and strand the bases loaded.

               The Grays immediately responded in the home half of the first, as three singles and an RBI groundout gave the Grays early 2-1 lead. Left fielder Andy Rivera (Holy Family) and Nagy picked up the two RBIs that constituted the Grays offense for the night. After what looked like a promising offensive start for the Grays, Thunderbolts starting pitcher Josh Zuckerman began to heat up, not allowing another for his three remaining innings. Zuckerman's season ERA now sits at an impressive 2.25.

               The Grays had their own pitching heroics as well. Meyers struck out the side in the third. After the Thunderbolts tied the game at 2 on an RBI single the Grays turned to the bullpen with two men on and nobody out. Jace Szaflarski (Lock Haven) retired all three batters he saw to strand the two runners he inherited. Szaflarski struck out four and did not allow a run in his three innings of work.

               Despite baserunners for both teams reaching scoring position, the game hit an offensive standstill in the innings to come. Pitchers for both sides had timely strikeouts and defense that prevented any more runs from being scored until the 8th. After a couple of errors and hard-hit fly balls, relief pitcher Sam Moseman found his second inning of work turn sour. Moseman was later ruled the losing pitcher, having allowed six runs on three hits. Moseman has been lights out so far for the Grays, and his season ERA was only raised to 2.70.

               The bats for the Grays found baserunners, but not runs, with seven Grays left standing on the basepaths. Liam Miller was charged with the win for the Thunderbolts having only allowed one man to reach in his inning of work out of the pen. Caleb Causey (Monroe CC) finished the night for the Grays pitching 1 ⅔ innings of scoreless baseball, but the offense couldn't answer and the game ended 8-2

               Grays now head on the road for back to back days, facing the Metro South County Braves on Thursday night and the Gaithersburg Giants on Friday.