Thunderbolts To Face a Familiar Foe Tonight at Blair; Look to Avenge Loss to Olney From Friday Night
SILVER SPRING, JUNE 21—The Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts (4-11) will play the Olney Cropdusters (11-6) for the fourth time this season. So far this summer, the Cropdusters have been steamrolling the TBolts. Olney is a perfect 3-0 against Silver Spring-Takoma, and have outscored them by a combined twenty-eight runs in all of their meetings.
The Thunderbolts are coming off a split doubleheader last night against the Alexandria Aces. In game one, Silver Spring-Takoma claimed a commanding 19-8 victory. In this anomaly of a game, the TBolts posted 14 runs in the seventh inning to come back from down 8-5. In game two, the TBolts were contained by Aces pitching in a 4-2 loss.
Last time the TBolts faced Olney, tensions were high at First Responder Field. Joey King (So., St. Olaf) robbed a three-run homer in left field, and Head Coach Brock Hunter was ejected shortly afterward. Players and coaches were fired up on both sides, and desperately sought a victory. There were only five hits by TBolt batters in this game, and mental miscues plagued them in their 5-3 Friday night loss.
A positive takeaway as of late for Silver Spring-Takoma is the strong chemistry that has melded among the players. Every game, the cheerful chirps seem to grow louder and louder as someone steps up to bat. Fun nicknames such as “Bake Show” (for Cam Baker) and “Kimmeh” (for Matthew Kim) have also rained onto the field.
“Every game, every day that we’re together, our team chemistry’s been improving,” said Thunderbolts pitcher Griffin Roussell. “I think we might be the closest knit team in the league.”
The electric bond between the TBolts will need to spark an inextinguishable fire tonight in order to defeat the Cropdusters. Much like the TBolts, Olney is coming off a long doubleheader yesterday against the Southern Maryland Senators. They beat the Sens 6-5 in Game One, but lost 16-11 in a high-scoring second game; the latter loss snapped their five-game losing streak.
Patrick Gozdan (Jr., West Chester) proved to be a problem for the TBolts on Friday. The right-handed infielder went 3-4 with a double, and was also hit by a pitch. On the season, Gozdan is batting .429 with 8 RBIs; his high average is good for the third best in the Ripken League.
Gozdan and the Cropdusters will have to deal with Will Heyse (So., Stevenson), who’s had a near perfect start to his summer. In 3.2 innings, Heyse has given up three hits, and has six strikeouts to his stat sheet. Five of these K’s came during Silver Spring-Takoma’s 20-0 victory over Alexandria on June 15. He also has yet to give up a run in 2026.
First pitch is slated for 6 P.M. tonight at Blair Baseball Stadium. For those who can’t attend, Patrick Moran and Peter Kelly will be providing live play-by-play coverage on the Thunderbolts’ YouTube broadcast.