Thunderbolts Dazzle in DC, Win 11-3 Despite Lightning Delay
WASHINGTON, JULY 10—Last night, the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts (8-21) faced off with the DC Grays (10-18) in our nation’s capital. The TBolts came into this game on a two-game losing streak, and DC had not played a full game since Monday. However, both teams got rolling early in what proved to be a fun clash at Catholic University.
In the first, the TBolts were spraying singles all over the park. Gabe Pegues (Lynchburg), Colin Gibbs (Deleware), and Trent Lopez (Cornell) hammered hits to center, right, and left field respectively. With the low-traction Talbot Field turf, Pegues was surprisingly pegged after sliding too far off second on a stolen base attempt. With one out, Sam Camacho (Clarion) brought home the first run with an RBI groundout to short.
Thunderbolts pitcher Michael Preske (Cecil CC) served as the opener for Silver Spring-Takoma last night. In his sole inning of pitching, Preske faced five batters, allowed one hit, and surrendered an RBI groundout to Xavier Bradley (Southern).
With the game tied at 1-1, the action was delayed for 30 minutes due to a lightning strike in the DC area. Unlike the lightning delay that occurred in Silver Spring on Tuesday, the thunder eventually fizzled out at Talbot Field. Action resumed at 8 P.M., but skies remained gray for Silver Spring-Takoma in the second.
TBolts pitcher Emilio Rodriguez (La Salle) was scheduled to start last night, but was instead used as a middle-bulk reliever. In the second inning, Rodriguez issued back-to-back walks, committed a balk, and allowed Drew Rybinski (Georgetown) to score on a wild pitch. The Grays then scored via a sac fly by Hartley Rahman (Catawba), and DC thrusted out to a 3-1 lead.
In the top of the second, Mason Kelleher (Frostburg St.) demolished a double to left-center field. Since he forgot his usual #27 jersey, Kelleher was rocking #33 for the TBolts. In true Michael Jordan fashion, the righty hit an imaginary basketball jumper into the TBolts dugout following his double. After getting thrown out earlier, Pegues made it a point to slide early for his 16th steal of the summer. However, Grays starter Collin Devillier (Catholic) rang up Matthew Kim (Hampden-Sydney) on strikes to end the inning.
DC were damaged with costly mental mistakes in the fifth inning. It began when Connor Frickey (Babson) got aboard after the Grays failed to secure a pop-up in the shallow infield. Joey King (St. Olaf) and Frickey both advanced on a balk, and it made way for Marco Pulizzi (Millersville) to pinch hit for Pegues. In his first plate appearance, the Marauder punished the Grays with a fly ball to right field. Right-fielder Freeman Hunt (Dickinson) dropped what looked like an easy catch, and it allowed King to score. Colin Gibbs brought more chaos with a two-RBI single that bounced off of a diving Hunt in right-center field. This clutch base knock gave the TBolts a 4-3 lead.
Although he had a rocky start, Emilio Rodriguez despoiled DC through three thrilling innings. On the night, the righty allowed one hit, issued six walks, and struck out two Grays. Rodriguez religiously rifled his fastball and curveball to retire Grays hitters. E-Rod’s holiest highlight came in the fifth inning when he made a poised pickoff attempt to catch Travis Church (Marist) in a pickle for an eventual rundown at second base.
The Thunderbolts kept the storm coming with two walks and three base hits in the sixth. Kelleher continued his dominant day with an RBI single to center, and was followed up by a Pulizzi double to right. Pulizzi pieced this hit to the same spot as his last at-bat, but found grass by his own means this time around.
In the bottom of the sixth, Connor Frickey made a gold glove caliber snag at first base. On a hotshot by Ryan Stoddard (Lafayette), Frickey finagled the ball into his glove while moving rapidly to his right. “I saw the ball off the bat while it was spinning away from me and just did whatever I could to get over there and get some leather on it,” Frickey said about the luscious line out.
Thunderbolts pitcher Matthew Calabrese (Jr., Frederick CC) came in to pitch for Rogdriguez in the bottom half of the sixth. The sidearm righty threw with three hitless innings for the TBolts. While sticking his slider with pinpoint accuracy, Calabrese notched three strikeouts and forced three groundouts. All of the groundouts came at the hands of a silky smooth Colin Gibbs at short; the Blue Hen had a team-high five assists in the six-hole.
DC allowed zero hits in the seventh, but they struggled to find the strike zone with three consecutive walks. With the bases loaded, Kelleher and Pulizzi were both plunked in the arm to plate back-to-back runs.
In the eighth, Frickey added two more runs with a double to left field. To no one’s surprise, Kelleher came through with another RBI single. Kelleher’s third ribby thrusted the Thunderbolts to an eight-run advantage.
Ryan Buecker (McDaniel) made his first pitching appearance since June 9. Despite missing over a month of action, the righty rifled two strikeouts in the ninth inning. As a cherry on top, Buecker got the Grays to strike out swinging to end this tantamount win at Talbot.
After trailing 3-1, the Thunderbolts struck the Grays with lights-out pitching. Silver Spring-Takoma fanned eight Grays, issued eight walks, and allowed just two hits on the night. Behind Gibbs and Frickey, the defense was spotless with zero errors.
After the lightning delay, the Thunderbolts’ offense electrified the DC defense. In total, the TBolts tallied 12 hits and drew a season-high 19 walks in their 11-3 victory. Silver Spring-Takoma also thrived off of three costly errors by the Grays.
Thunderbolts catcher Mason Kelleher had a killer performance, going 4-4 with a double and three RBI’s. “Coming in today, my swing felt a little off. So, in BP, I was just making sure that I fixed those arrangements before the game started,” Kelleher told me after the game. “My swing felt good after that.”
Kelleher and the offense will look to continue their dominance at the dish tonight against the Metro SoCo Braves at South County High School.