Written by Jack Stashower | Photo by Maya Brichacek

Dominance on the mound helped the Silver-Spring Takoma Thunderbolts spoil the Gaithersburg Giants home opener, winning the game 6-4 at Criswell Automotive Field Thursday night. Both teams came into Thursday’s game looking for their first win of the season.

Silver Spring-Takoma head coach Brock Hunter praised his pitching staff after they performed well two nights in a row after a close loss to the Aces on Wednesday. 

“Yesterday was a long game, I wanted to make sure we were well rested coming into this one,” Hunter said. “I think we came out all right.”

And come out all right they did. Starting pitcher Brady Fetherolf (Clarion) shut down the Giants through four innings, only allowing two hits and striking out three. The Thunderbolts put up one run offensively during that stretch to hold a 1-0 lead. 

In the top of the sixth, the Thunderbolts found their groove. A three-run inning started when David Vozzo (Moravian) ripped a double to left field, bringing in Vance Bonior (UMass Amherst) to increase the lead to two. Next at-bat, a single from Matthew Kim (Frederick CC) brought in Vozzo to increase the lead to three. 

A single from Griffin Puvel (Rider) put runners on the corners, which set up a sacrifice fly chance for Jack Hurda (Clarion) which he capitalized on, bringing Kim home and giving the Thunderbolts a 4-0 lead over the Giants.

Catcher Zack White (Lousiana Monroe) made a huge play in the top of the fifth when a wild pitch forced White to make a play at home, running back to home plate to tag the runner out at home. 

The Giants clawed their way back into the game in the bottom of the sixth. With runners on second and third, Nate Hawton-Henley (Maryland) hit an infield single which easily brought in Aaron Babaev (San Mateo). Danny Orr (UMBC) displayed some heads up baserunning, hustling all the way home from second and avoiding the tag to cut the Thunderbolts lead in half. 

The game would remain 4-2 until the top of the eighth, when the Thunderbolts brought their lead back to four on the Giants. Kim hit another RBI double to bring the lead to 5-2, and a bases-loaded walk to Steve Thomas (Catholic U) made the lead 6-2. Kim led the Thunderbolts with two RBIs in the game. 

The Thunderbolts found themselves in trouble in the bottom half of the inning. Pitcher Liam Bowen (Frostburg St) started the inning by hitting a batter, giving up a single, and walking another to load up the bases. Hunter emerged from the dugout to give his pitcher advice and Bowen didn’t look back.

“I told him he was moving a bit too fast,” Hunter said. “I told him to take his time, hit your spot, and he obviously did that.”

Bowen responded and struck out the next batter he faced. Jayden Brown (Ranger) hit a sacrifice fly that brought in a run to keep the Giants in it with a fighting chance. But Bowen came up clutch for his team, striking out the final batter to keep the Giants at bay. 

Gaithersburg would have one more chance to get back into the game in the bottom of the ninth. Closing out the game for the Thunderbolts was Brady Grimes (Millersville). An RBI single from Danny Orr was the final punch the Giants could muster up before Grimes struck out White to end the game. 

The Giants look to get into the win column on Friday versus the Olney Cropdusters at First Responder Field. The Thunderbolts are looking to win back-to-back games when they play the Bethesda Big Train Friday at Montgomery Blair.