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Friday, August 3

After routing the #2 Bethesda Big Train Thursday night to force a decisive Championship Game, the #1 Rockville Express took a different path Friday night, coming from behind to capture their first Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League Championship, 4-3.

Trailing 3-1, the Express unloaded three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI-double by Mike Zuanich (UC-Santa Barbara) and a two-run home run by Beau Brooks (Troy). Reliever Chris Notti (Moorpark) made the slim one-run advantage hold up for the final three innings to get the win and seal the Championship.

The Big Train jumped out to the early lead when Bert Smith (Jacksonville State) led off the game with a double and later scored on an RBI-ground out by Clay Whittmore (Jacksonville State). The Express responded in the second on an RBI-single by Paul-Michael Klingsberg (Pepperdine).

Bethesda went back on top in the fourth after Evan Friedland (Michigan State) doubled Andrew Foster (Bowling Green) to third base, who then scored on an Eric Roof (Michigan State) sacrifice fly. The Big Train added another run the next inning when Pat Minogue (Northern Illinois) and Smith singled in consecutive at-bats, advanced a base on a fly out, and a passed ball scored Minogue. Smith was later (fatefully, as it turned out) thrown out trying to score on a wild pitch, however.

The Express comeback was capped in the sixth by the home run by the catcher Brooks, who earned 2007 LCS Most Valuable Player honors. Brooks finished the LCS with six hits in 13 at-bats (.462), with three runs scored and the two RBI on the crucial home run. He also walked twice in the series.

The Express were upset by the #6 Maryland Redbirds in their first LCS game, but knocked off the #4 Herndon Braves, the Redbirds in a re-match, and the Big Train twice to come out of the loser’s bracket and win the Championship—a fitting conclusion to a 2007 League Championship Series that saw five come-from-behind victories.