Big Train Bats Blast Braves! ASG Tonight at Povich; BT Fan on a Mission

Big Train Bats Blast Braves, Head into Break at 25-7   The Big Train traveled to Herndon on Tuesday to take on the FCA Herndon Braves. Riding a five-game winning streak, the team was looking to go into the All-Star Break on a high note. | Box Score: W, 11-4 Brock Larson (San Francisco) started for the Big Train, and gave up three runs (two earned) in four innings on three hits and three walks while striking out four batters. The Braves got on the board first, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second inning. However, the Big Train would respond quickly. In the top of the third inning, a great bunt by David Del Grande (Sacramento St.) forced an error that allowed Mike Miedzianowski (High Point) to score for the Big Train. An RBI single by Kyle Wernicki (Virginia Tech) and a sacrifice fly by Ty France (San Diego State) pushed across two more runs, suddenly turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead for Bethesda. In the fourth inning, Tim Yandel (Tulane) crossed the plate for the Big Train after reaching on a single and stealing a base, to extend the lead to 4-2. The Braves got one run back in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 4-3, but the Big Train continued to score. Kit Scheetz (Virginia Tech) - pictured above - came in to relieve Larson in the bottom of the fifth, and pitched a scoreless inning out of the gate, setting up the Big Train offense to start pulling away. The bats did just that in the following innings, scoring runs seven runs in the last four innings. In the sixth, RBIs from Wernicki and Tucker Tobin (George Mason) added some cushion to the Big Train lead, extending it to 6-3. A mammoth home run by Johnny Cole (Coastal Carolina) made the score 7-3 before RBI walks by Cole and Yandel extended the lead to 9-3 in the eighth. The offense continued to pad the lead in the ninth, as RBIs from France andRyne Willard (Tallahassee CC) made the score 11-3. The lead would prove insurmountable for the Braves, as they plated just one run in the bottom half of the ninth inning. The Big Train enter the All-Star Break with a 25-7 record and hold a five-game lead over the Gaithersburg Giants for first place in the CRCBL. The Big Train will host the CRCBL All-Star Game on Wednesday at Povich Field! There will be six players representing the Big Train in the mid-summer classic, so come on out to see the best that the league has to offer! The All-Star Game begins at7:30 with the Home Run Derby preceding it at 5:00. After Wednesday's All-Star Game, Bethesda will play 12 more regular season games before the playoffs start at the end of July. The next Big Train home game is on Thursday against the Presstman Cardinals on Carnival Night. Tickets can be purchased here or at the gate.  The next Big Train home game is on Thursday against the Presstman Cardinals on Carnival Night. Tickets can be purchased here or at the gate.  Man Behind Big Train Name on a Mission The Gazette Published: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 Bethesda man caps off visits to baseball stadiums, By Kent Zakour For most of Glenn Orlin's life, baseball has been an integral part of it. His passion for the game goes well beyond cheering for his favorite team, the Washington Nationals. The 1969 Wheaton High School graduate owns an impressive amount of baseball caps that's he picked up touring the country. In the basement of his Bethesda home on wooden display cases, Orlin has a collection of 313 hats, representing every single Major League team in the country and nearly every minor league affiliate in the United States and Canada. Since 1985, Orlin has made it his lifelong goal to attend every professional ballpark in North America. "They've got to be fitted hats and I try to get the home version of the hat," said Orlin, who wears a size 7 5/8 or 7 3/4 hat. He also has a program and scorecard from every stadium as well as several other random souvenirs, ranging from seat cushions to bobblehead figurines to soda cups. Orlin's quest began in 1985 and he's traveled with his good friend Bob Simpson, his wife, Lena, or by himself since. He's received inspiration from his family and friends as well as Bob Wood's book "Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks," a story about the author's trek to all of the Major League Baseball stadiums during the 1985 season. "He's a great guy," Bethesda Big Train co-founder Bruce Adams said during an interview before a game last month. Orlin, who serves as the Big Train's official scorer in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League, occasionally brings back souvenirs for Adams from his trips. "I'm a little jealous of his excursions." Orlin, who is the Deputy Administrator of the Montgomery County Council, has also started a collection of scarves representing various soccer clubs from around the world. "Growing up, my dad took me to games and then I was away from baseball for a little bit," Orlin said. "In the summer of 1985 my friends and I were thinking about a place to go on a summer weekend and we said, "Let's go to Philly." So we saw a [Philadelphia Phillies] game at old Veterans Stadium on a hot day with miserable seats, but we still had a great time. "I heard about [Wood's trip] and I said, 'Eh. That sounds fun.' A couple years later we went to a Hagerstown Suns game and loved it. It was the perfect Minor League experience. .. It was genuine and I decided I was also going to go to every minor league ballpark. I knew it might take my entire life, but I was going to do it." Orlin's travels peaked in the early 1990s when he made seven or eight trips per summer to see approximately 30 stadiums a year. As of 2004, he had accomplished his goal. Now, because of new teams or old stadiums getting replaced or renovated, he has a handful of cities and towns to return to and he wants to add teams based in Mexico. He keeps track of his travels on a map in his office with different sized and color-coded pins. "On weekends, I would drive to South Carolina and see a game Saturday night and spend the night in a hotel. I would then go to another game Sundayafternoon and then one Sunday night. I would then get home just in time for work." As stadiums became checked off his list and the distance between destinations grew, it became difficult to plan trips in the Midwest and West. "My wife likes going on these trips and [Simpson] wants to drive every U.S. route and see every national park and monument," Orlin said. "We've done a lot of day driving for that and then at night go see a game I needed to." At every ballpark - particularly the minor league locations - Orlin, who likes to sit behind the first or third baseline in the lower level in the shade, makes it a point to soak in each stadium's ambiance. "Ballparks have a lot of things and it's a fun atmosphere for the kids," Orlin said. "To me, I like it, but it gets kind of old when you go to so many. I'm more interested in the ballpark architecture. "You want to sit somewhere where you can overhear conversations. It gives you the local flavor of the area, particularly in the Northeast and South. Where else can you go in a small town and get a sense of a place in just one night? A ballpark!"