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Wednesday, August 1

The #6 Maryland Redbirds, who won just twelve regular season games, had already knocked off the #3 Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts and #1 Rockville Express in the past 24 hours in the 2007 Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League Championship Series, so it came as no surprise that the 'Birds still had upsets on the mind when their first seven batters all scored to open Wednesday night's second-round match-up with the #2 Bethesda Big Train.

But just a hair under four hours later, it was the Redbirds who left the ballpark with the same stunned feeling that they had inflicted upon the T'Bolts and Express earlier in the LCS. Stunned, because the Big Train used every ounce of eleven innings and a mighty effort by reliever Matt Hiserman (Santa Clara) to chip away at the seven-run deficit and snatch the victory, 8-7.

The first seven men to step up to the dish came around to score for the Redbirds in the first inning. Clean-up hitter Gavin Swanson (George Washington) cleared the bases with a double, then scored on a double by Tim Reeves (George Washington). Reeves scored on a double by Matt Parker (San Diego State). But after allowing the double to Parker, Hiserman, who had relieved starter Connor Hoehn (Alabama) a batter earlier, struck out three Redbirds batters in a row; a sign of things to come.

Over the next seven-plus innings, Hiserman struck out 13 more batters, finishing with a total of 16 in 8.2 innings-pitched. He struck out the side four times, and in three separate innings he left runners on third base (and once the bases loaded) by striking out the man at the plate.

Meanwhile, the Big Train bats slowly got rolling. They picked up two in the bottom of the first on a double by Pat Minogue (Northern Illinois) and a single by Andrew Foster (Bowling Green). And though Redbirds starter Mike Stangroom (Buffalo) settled in, retiring eight in a row at one point, the Big Train reached him for another run in the seventh on an RBI single by Steven Leach (Jacksonville State).

Stangroom left in the eighth after retiring the first batter he faced and walking the next. Sensing that they had finally knocked out the third of what proved to be a trio of phenomenal Redbirds starters in the LCS, the Big Train offense finally exploded on the Redbirds bullpen, which hadn't seen action since Saturday (Redbirds starters had pitched complete games in three straight, going back to the final game of the regular season on Sunday). Chris Duffy (Central Florida) and Evan Friedland (Michigan State) hit back-to-back doubles and the lead was suddenly down to 7-5. A walk to Eric Roof (Michigan State) and Eli Boike (Michigan State) then loaded the bases with one out. Bert Smith (Jacksonville State) drew another walk to cut the deficit to one, and two batters later Jon Karcich (Santa Clara) walked in the tying run.

The Big Train loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth but couldn't push the winning run across and the game went to extra frames.

In the tenth, the Redbirds loaded the bases on three walks, but a strike out and two fielder's choices got reliever Brian Anderson (San Francisco) out of the jam. The Big Train responded by loading the bases in the bottom of the tenth, but Redbirds reliever Chase Carpenter induced three ground balls to escape unharmed.

Carpenter wasn't so lucky in the eleventh, however. Roof doubled to lead off the inning. Boike reached first on an attempted sacrifice that turned into a bunted base hit, which moved Roof to third. Smith was intentionally walked to set up the force at every base, but the next batter, Leach, erased that possibility and ended the game on a base hit up the middle that caromed off the bag at second and came to rest in the leftfield grass.

The Big Train advances to the Championship Game, Thursday night at 7:30 pm at Povich Field. After two stunning wins and an equally stunning loss, the Redbirds will face the #1 Rockville Express for the second time in as many days, Thursday at 4 pm in an elimination game. The winner of that game will face the Big Train at 7:30 pm and should they beat the Big Train, would face Bethesda again on Friday night at 7:30 pm to settle the League Championship.