Thunderbolts Look to Keep it Rolling on the Road in Gaithersburg
GAITHERSBURG, JULY 12—For the first time this season, the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts (10-21) have a lengthy winning streak to protect. The Thunderbolts defeated the DC Grays on Friday, and swept a doubleheader with the Metro SoCo Braves last night in Lorton. Tonight’s game against the Gaithersburg Giants (13-17) will wrap up their fruitful four-game road trip for.
So far this summer, the Thunderbolts are 2-4 against Gaithersburg. In their last rendezvous on July 3, the TBolts claimed 15-2 blowout win at Criswell Automotive Field. In that game, Caleb Sturtevant (Millersville) and Griffin Puvel (Rider) both crushed home runs early to catapult the TBolts to victory.
Along with healthy hitting, a key catalyst behind the TBolts’ recent success has been pitching and defense. In their 11-3 victory over DC, four pitchers combined to allow two total hits. In Game One last night in Lorton, three pitchers held the Braves to three hits. In both of those wins, no errors were committed, and the defense was communicating with fervor. Overall, Head Coach Brock Hunter believes his players are blossoming on both sides of the field.
“The early part of the year, we lost a lot of close games, not much going our way. Since the little break, I think more things are going our way and we just got more confidence. We’ve always been able to score runs and hit the ball, but now we’re playing better defense.”
It will be interesting to see how the Thunderbolt defense performs against a Gaithersburg team who have lost three of their last four games. First pitch tonight is scheduled for 4 P.M. at Criswell Automotive Field. Tune in on YouTube to listen to Brian Alves and Peter Kelly bring you the call.