Gaithersburg Hand the Bolts an 8-2 Loss in the Heat
SILVER SPRING, JULY 1—It has been a one-sided affair between the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts (6-18) and Gaithersburg Giants (11-14) as of late. On Monday, the Giants took a 10-2 win over the TBolts at Criswell Automotive Field. Last night, Gaithersburg got the last laugh once more, winning 8-2 at Blair Stadium.
The temperature at first pitch was 96 degrees, although it felt more like 100 with the heat index. Due to heat concerns, this game only went seven innings. However, it still lasted nearly as long as a nine-inning game would. Zach Bortner (Jr., Frederick CC) and Sean Williams (Jr., Penn State) both toed the mound and tried to build a cushion for their respective teams.
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In the first inning, Bortner and the Thunderbolts got multiple bad breaks. To start the scoring, Ayden Phillips (So., Northwest Florida State) hit an RBI single that snuck into a Bermuda Triangle of TBolts defenders in right-center. Breydan Ruiz-Weiss (Jr., Yale) added a second run via an error by Colin Gibbs (Jr., Delaware) that squandered a double play opportunity. Drew Jourdan (So., Frostburg St.) kept the offense sizzling with an RBI single to left-center. Much like their dominant sixth inning on Monday, the Giants shot out of a cannon to take a 4-0 first-inning lead.
For Gaithersburg, Williams made his third start of the summer on the hill. In four innings, the righty allowed four hits, issued four walks, and struck out two. Besides a Trent Lopez (So., Cornell) sacrifice fly in the first, the Thunderbolts offense was not thriving as it was against the Grays on Tuesday.
Miguel Leon (Fr., Maryland) added another Giants run with a left-center RBI single in the third inning. In the bottom of the fourth, it looked like the TBolts had a rally in store. With the bases loaded and one out, Nolan Kutney (Gr., UMBC) worked an RBI walk to trim the lead down to 5-2. However, Gibbs and Lopez both flew out to end the fruitful looking fourth.
Michael Preske (So., Cecil CC) relieved Bortner in his ninth outing of the summer. The righty allowed two hits, issued three walks, and did a great job at getting Gaithersburg to fly out; through two and two third innings, Preske forced four flyouts. However, the Giants still piled three runs on Preske to make it 8-2. Phillips squared up an RBI single to center, and Jourdan demolished a two-RBI double to left in the top of the sixth.
Alexander Angelidis (Jr., St. Peter’s) and Tanner Coddington (Sr., Whitman) took the bump to close it out for Gaithersburg. Angelidis allowed two hits through two innings, while Coddington shut down the Thunderbolts in the seventh. Josh Erd (Sr., East Stroudsberg) made his seventh pitching appearance for the TBolts; the righty rendered Gaithersburg hitless through one inning and a third.
In totality, the TBolts tallied six hits, drew six walks, stole five bases and struck out three Giants. DH Griffin Puvel (Sr., Rider) was the only TBolt to have a multi-hit day.
Gaithersburg had seven hits, drew eight walks, and struck out five Thunderbolts. The Giants simply did a better job capitalizing with runners in scoring position, and they built a big lead in their dominant first inning.
The Thunderbolts will look to bounce back against the Metro SoCo Braves tonight at 7:30 P.M.