Grays Rally Late, Win 4-2

The D.C. Grays (15-18) stole a win on the road Saturday night against the Alexandria Aces (21-12) by a final score of 4-2. The Aces still hold the South Division lead, but the Grays are trying to work their way back to .500 late in the season.

All of the scoring came late in the game. AJ Thomas (Marist College) started on the hill for the Grays and was brilliant. He pitched 2.0 perfect innings, not allowing a baserunner and striking out two. He was relieved by Hunter Covill (Bridgewater College), who pitched two more shutout innings, allowing just one hit and striking out four of the eight batters he faced.

Casey Edwards (Washington College) was pitching a gem out of the pen, having struck out four and posting a scoreless 2.2 innings of relief when he hit some trouble in the bottom of the seventh.

Unfortunately for the Grays, the Aces' pitching staff was also sharp. The Grays didn't notch a hit until the fourth inning when Luke Caucci (Lafayette College) hit a single that bounced off the second base bag. The Grays were able to string together some baserunners from nine walks and three errors but were unable to score for most of the night. They finished the game having left 12 men on base.

In the seventh, Noel Rivera (Marist College), batting leadoff, muscled a one-out single up the middle to put the go-ahead run on. He then stole second, and on his attempted steal of third, the catcher's throw went into the outfield. Rivera came all the way around to score the game's first run.

In the bottom of the inning, the Grays gave the lead back. After two leadoff walks, Edwards coaxed a flyout and a strikeout with no runners advancing to give the Grays a chance to get out of the jam. Then, in the middle of an at-bat with a 2-2 count, the Grays reliever seemed to have some discomfort in his hand and was pulled from the game. Andrew Ruggeri (University of Pennsylvania) was called on to get the final strike of the inning. But Brady Heubner of the Aces had other plans, hammering an RBI double into the outfield to tie the game. Back-to-back walks by Ruggeri walked in the go-ahead run to give the Aces a 2-1 lead. A flyout to right finally ended the threat and took the game to the eighth.

The Grays came into the night on a five-game losing streak, and it looked like they were in danger of a sixth straight loss. But Noel Rivera worked a one-out walk in the 9th to put the tying run on. Tyler Wiltsey (Rutgers University at New Brunswick) laid down a sacrifice bunt to put Rivera at second with two outs. Rivera advanced to third on a wild pitch, and the throw to third went wild again, allowing Noel to come around and score the Grays' second run, tying the game with two outs in the 9th.

After back-to-back walks by Joe Marini (Catholic University of America) and Andy Rivera (Holy Family University), Jack McMullan (Liberty University) shot a single to reclaim the lead for the Grays. A wild pitch scored another runner from third, and the Grays went to the bottom of the ninth up 4-2.

Andrew Ruggeri picked up two huge strikeouts in the ninth, and the man of the evening, Noel Rivera, caught a sharp liner to work a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, ending the losing streak and giving the Grays a 4-2 win.

Up next are the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts.