Written by Erin Hughes

The Alexandria Aces ended the Bethesda Big Train’s 11 game win-streak with a 9-4 victory on Friday night in Alexandria.

Filling in for head coach Chris Berset, Aces assistant coach Jen Hammond grabbed her second career head coaching win in the CRSCBL. When asked about her victory, she said, “I am so happy for the guys. This was a big game. We’ve been in games with the Big Train where we kind of lost our concentration for a couple of outs and let some games slip away. I think it was huge for them to come out and have a good, strong game against them.” 

Mentioning the games that slipped away, Hammond said, “We basically [told the players] just play clean baseball, play hard baseball. We knew that we were close in previous games, we knew we had opportunities to win, so they did - they finished the game.”

Aces righty Mason Christopher (Seton Hall) tossed a 1-2-3 top of the first with the help of a double play from his infielders Ernie Echevarria (Penn) and Derek Almeda (Chaffey).

Cooper Hums (Western Michigan) drew a walk to begin the home half of the first and immediately stole second. An error moved Hums to third and put John Colligan (Ball State) on first. Colligan quickly stole second. After Big Train pitcher Connor Lehman (Alabama) fanned a batter, Echevarria walked to load the bases. Echevarria’s Penn teammate, Gavin Degnan hit a sacrifice fly to score Hums and bring in the Aces first run.

Emilio Gonzalez (Florida Atlantic) launched a leadoff home run to right field to erase the early deficit. John Martinez (Florida Atlantic) drove a two out single through the left side and soon stole second, but he was left stranded after a flyout.

Josh Skowronski (Winthrop) led off the top of the fourth with a solo shot of his own to right field to take the lead 2-1 for the Big Train. The Bethesda squad threatened again with a two out single from Matthew Westley, but a fielder’s choice ended the frame.

Diego Pena (Western Michigan) walked to start the bottom of the fourth and a one out double by Tripp Capers put both runners in scoring position. Toby Huebner (Ball State) smashed a double off of the center field wall to plate Pena and Capers. Huebner was put out stretching for third and another groundout ended the inning, but the Aces regained the lead, 3-2.

Colligan and Almeda singled to get the bottom of the inning started with both runners in scoring position early. Echevarria walked as the Aces now had the bases loaded with no outs. Degnan dropped a bases clearing double into left field to extend the Aces lead 6-2. Tyler Brashear (Eckered) entered in relief of Lehman and retired the next three batters, including two swinging strikeouts.

Aces righty Stephen Curry (Seton Hall) and Big Train reliever Brashear continued to command the game in the sixth as both pitchers went four up, three down. Curry pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh to silence the Big Train bats.

Echevarria walked and Degnan singled to lead off the bottom of the seventh. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and Echevarria added the Aces’ seventh run on a passed ball.

The Big Train’s two runs in the eighth came on a sacrifice fly from Skowronski to score Alex Peltier (East Carolina), and an RBI single by Logan Ponnett (UNC Charlotte) that plated Brennon Wright (South Alabama).

Hums drew a one out walk and stole second quickly after. After the second out, Almeda singled through the left side to send Hums home. Almeda swiped second and third and Echevarria’s first hit of the day sent him home. Degnan followed that up with a single of his own to put Echevarria on third. Degnan took second before a strikeout stranded both runners, but not before the Aces pulled ahead 9-4.

The Aces’ third Seton Hall pitcher of the game, Steven Svenson, pitched around a leadoff walk to sit down three straight batters and seal the Alexandria victory.

The Seton Hall boys have been a staple in the Alexandria bullpen this summer. On their performance tonight, Hammond said they “were outstanding tonight. They attacked. We had intermittently - across the season - some moments where we got a little bit cautious, we were nibbling a little bit. I loved that our boys attacked [and] trusted their defense. Late in the game, they worked around a couple of bloop hits that fell in, they didn’t lose their composure, and just went right at batters. Loved that.” 

On the basepaths, the Aces grabbed seven stolen bases and made the most out of some pitches in the dirt. Hammond said, “We are a team that maybe isn’t going to hit a whole bunch of bombs. We know that we have to take bases, be aggressive, and put the ball in play. The message tonight was ‘Be aggressive. We are going to win this game being aggressive or we are going to lose this game being aggressive, but we’re going to take those bases if there’s opportunities."