NEWS

By Marc Goldstein

As the sun began to lower in the sky on a warm, humid evening in Bethesda, the 2023 season in the Cal Ripken Sr. League was just getting going. Saturday night’s game between the Bethesda Big Train and Olney Cropdusters began yet another season in the DMV’s top college summer league. In the end, Big Train rode a wave of early offense to a 10-5 victory, starting the season at 1-0.

The game got off to an incredible start for Bethesda. After Patrick Galle (Ole Miss) shut down Olney in order in the first, including one of his four strikeouts, Bethesda got to work offensively. John Long (North Carolina) led off the game with a loud single to center field, setting the stage for the next two baserunners to reach without putting the ball in play.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Chris Hacopian (University of Maryland), younger brother of reigning Cal Ripken Sr. League MOP Eddie Hacopian (Aces, 2022), smacked a single to left field. Long scored, but Olney left fielder Matthew Miura (Hawaii) deked the second runner into running into an out at home.

Regardless, Cropdusters starter Joe Pippin (Frostburg State) was no match for the Big Train offensive attack. Teddy Ruffner (UNC Wilmington) added to the lead with a two-run double to make the score 3-0. The Cropdusters committed a trio of errors that led to another three runs. Marcus Dux (College of Charleston) took over on the mound and closed out the inning, but the damage was already done.

If the first inning was any impression of the onslaught that would occur, Dux was able to squash that idea. His 2.2 innings of work not only were highly effective, but they were efficient and saved the bullpen from getting overly taxed early in the season.

While the Cropdusters struggled defensively in the game, the Big Train committed five errors on the night in total, showing room for improvement in the eyes of their manager.

“We played hard, but still need to continue to try to polish things up,” Big Train skipper Sal Colangelo said. “We have a lot of guys not here, so a lot of guys are playing out of position. We’re just trying the best we can… We are just trying to catch the ball and throw the ball and keep it basic right now.”

Regardless, the game continued to chug along after the Cropdusters got on the board with an unearned run manufactured nearly entirely by Miura. The left fielder singled, stole two bases, and scored on a throwing error. But Galle was terrific, keeping a rather potent Cropdusters lineup at bay and keeping the ball down. Pitching with a big lead is something that young pitchers can  struggle with at times, but not Galle.

“I was just trying to throw the ball over the plate and get my defense a chance to really work and make outs for me,” Galle said.

The Ole Miss hurler was able to get ahead in the count with his fastball and worked off that with his breaking pitches. His strategy worked to his advantage as by the second time around the order, Galle accumulated more strikeouts as he was using more of his offspeed pitches to fool batters.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Big Train really put the game out of reach, using a two-run single by Dean Toigo (Cypress College) and a two-run double by Zeb Ruddell (Louisiana State) made the score 10-2 in favor of the home team.

The Cropdusters got two back in the fifth when Matt Ervolina (East Stroudsburg) launched a ball over the right field wall – the only home run of the game from either side – to make it 10-4. However, the runs were too little too late as even another late rally to push across a fifth run didn’t change the final outcome. 

On the basepaths, the Big Train ran wild, swiping eight bases on the night.

“We were looking at tendencies, certain counts and situations and seeing what we can do and exploit it,” Colangelo said.

Bethesda used Opening Night as a chance to flex its muscles for its home fans. The message sent to the rest of the league was one of strength in numbers as the reinforcements playing in the NCAA tournament will soon be arriving to further supplement one of the best teams in the league.