Former Griffith League Champion becomes seventh CRSCBL team

October 25, 2006

The Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League will welcome the Herndon Braves as its seventh member franchise for the upcoming 2007 season.

The Braves had played in the Clark C. Griffith Collegiate Baseball League since their inception in 2003. They will join the Bethesda Big Train, College Park Bombers, Maryland Redbirds, Rockville Express, Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts, and AAABA National Champion Youse’s Maryland Orioles in the Cal Ripken, Sr. League, one of the fastest rising summer amateur baseball leagues on the east coast.

Making their home at Herndon High School in Herndon, Virginia, the Braves were founded by John and Lisa Lombardozzi in 2003. The couple had volunteered for local summer league teams as a host family before deciding to establish a team of their own in Herndon. John’s brothers Steve and Chris played professional baseball, and all three brothers played NCAA Division 1 baseball at the University of Florida. Legendary amateur baseball coach and AAABA Hall of Famer, Chuck Faris, assisted the Braves as the franchise’s first general manager.

The Braves finished the 2006 season with a 25-15 record, good for second place in the Griffith League. The Braves won the League Championship in 2005, and have an overall record of 94-68 in their four-year history. They have never won fewer than twenty games in a season.

The Braves are also deeply committed to the Herndon community. Each year, the team runs a summer camp for local youth baseball players with proceeds going to the improvement of the baseball field at Herndon High School. The Braves are coached by Chris Smith, who is an assistant for the varsity baseball team at Herndon High School.

The Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League will begin its third season in June 2007. In 2006, the Bethesda Big Train (28-12) won the regular season crown and the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts (14-26) defeated four higher seeds in four days to win the League Championship Series. In August, Youse’s Maryland Orioles won their fourth straight AAABA National Championship at Johnstown, Pennsylvania.