Three seasons ago, when the Roanoke Rails won just six games in a full season, the team was often referred to as “The Little Engine That Couldn’t”.  Fast forward to 2013, and that very same little train would play for the Carolina Virginia College Summer League Championship crown, with a host of fresh faces and a new never-say-die coaching staff.

 

The third seeded Rails journey would begin Thursday night against the scrappy Central Virginia Blue Sox the sixth seed in the eight team season ending tournament staged in Hickory, North Carolina.  A well-rested Aaron Stidham (Hampden-Sydney) would command the mound as the Rails starter, squaring off against the Sox right hander Jordan Bose.

 

In the home half of the first inning, it did not take long for the Rails to strike.  Lincoln Evans’s (Lynchburg College) lead off double began the playoffs for Roanoke and a RBI single courtesy of Andrew Tucker (Hampden-Sydney) would give the Rails a 1-0 lead.  The next seven innings belonged to Stidham who struck out four, allowed four hits and blanked the Sox in what was his best in a season of brilliant starts.

 

The Sox had no chance against Rails closer Steve Ball in the ninth as the Blacksburg area fire baller, whiffed the side displaying a bevy of mid-nineties fast balls in an eight pitch save.  The win was the first post-season tournament victory in Rails history and the boys were just getting started.

 

Game two would pit two CVCL “Pitcher of the Year” candidates against one another. The Rails Carter Brown(VA Tech Club) and the Catawba All-Stars Sean Larsen have tussled in the past, yet this meeting was a battle to the last. 

 

Catawba would grab and early lead in the first on a RBI single by Tyler Edwards. Meanwhile, Larsen was racking up the strike-outs, fanning six in his first six innings. In the seventh, Bradley Mattox (Roanoke College) picked up the Rails second hit of the game with a lined single to right field and advanced to second base on an errant pick-off toss by Larsen.  Maroon teammate Brian Kluge wasted no time scoring his college teammate with a sharp RBI single to knot the game at one run a piece.  The Stars would grab the lead back in the bottom half of the seventh, leaving the Rails little time to rally.

 

Catawba’s lefty closer Sean Murli (Martin-Methodist) entered the game in the eighth and proceeded to strike-out the side and the first two batters in the ninth.  Down to their final out, the Rails sent Jacob Clifton (Roanoke College) to the plate hoping for a break.  Clifton drew a four pitch walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Austin Lowman (Randolph-Macon).  Mattox, who had scored the only Rails run of the game, battled Murli for a hard fought base on balls moving Lowman into scoring position.  Kluge stepped into the batter’s box and delivered a scorched one hop bullet which rebounded off Murli’s knee and into foul territory.  All runners were safe and Murli was helped off the field.  Had the ball not hit Murli the game would have been tied, yet a fly ball out ended in the Rails bid and cast the team into the dreaded “losers bracket.”

 

The game would be the last Rails pitching performance for team ace Carter Brown, who was his usual brilliant self of the mound.  Brown has been a leader, teacher, and coach on the field for the Rails over the last four years and is among the classiest people anyone could meet.  It has been an honor to watch him play the game he loves so dearly.

 

Game 3 would be the first of several elimination games for the Rails.  The CVCL’s win king, Rails right-hander Mike Mnich would face Winston-Salem lefty Hunter Bowles (Rockingham CC) in an Friday evening start.  As customary, the Rails would fall behind early. Crusher’s second baseman Chaztin Venezia (USC-Lancaster) would single and score on a Jeff Fleetwood (MD-Eastern Shore) single to post the first run of the game in the first.  It was the last run they would get off of Mnich.

 

Mattox lead off the fifth inning with a double and Jack Elliott (Hampden-Sydney) would blet a double of his own to tie the game at one.  Mnich struck out four, held the Crushers to just five hits, and picked off a base runner in his excellent five innings of work.

 

Trent Cundiff (James Madison) coming off a July 4^th appendectomy took over on the hill in the sixth for the Rails, throwing two huge scoreless innings and looking like his old dominant self.  Though small in number, due to injuries and other reasons, Mike Blanchard’s Rails pitching staff is as tough as they come. In this writer’s opinion, these men are best in the CVCL.

 

In the seventh, with the game tied at one, Clifton lined a single to open the frame.  Again, Austin Lowman would be run for Clifton, representing the game’s winning run.  Following a perfect Mattox sacrifice bunt, moving Lowman into scoring position, Andrew Tucker (Hampden-Sydney) was hit by a pitch, bringing the Rails leading RBI man DJ Russ (Emory & Henry) to the plate.

Russ is not what you would call a graceful athlete, but, if you need a run knocked in, he is your man.  Wasting little time, Russ served the first strike he saw into right-field and Lowman rolled around third base with the games winning run.  Amazingly, the Rails were, again, moving on.

 

After seeing the Fuqua-Varina Twins bludgeon the Sox earlier in the day, the Rails pinned their hopes on hard luck starter Tyler Grouten (Roanoke College) for game four. Grouten has pitched wonderfully for the Rails in 2013, as he did in 2012. Sparse run support has taken a toll on Grouten’s win/loss record but not on his three runs per game earned run average.

 

In the bottom of the second, the Rails provided a nice cushion for their beleaguered pitcher.  A one out single and stolen base by Tucker, a walk to Elliott and RBI singles by Russ and shortstop Mitch Stevenson (Southern Virginia) staked Grouten to an early three run lead. In the third frame, Chris Mitko (Cal U of PA) doubled, Clifton scored him with a single, Elliott singled, and Russ scored Clifton on another opposite field hit.

 

Though five innings Grouten allowed four hits and was in complete control of the game.  Matt Wade (Pfieffer University) blasted a solo home run off the roof of the batting cages in left-center field to put the Twins on the board in the sixth.  Mitch Stevenson grabbed another run for the Rails in the sixth with a base hit, a stolen base, a wild pitch and a double steal of home with Austin Lowman swiping second.

 

The Twins made it interesting in the seventh, including the third straight hit by NC State’s Charlie Parsons who had three consecutive home runs against the Sox earlier in the day.  Cundiff picked up Grouten in relief, capturing the last two outs for the save and a 6-4 victory.

 

In game five, the Rails would be playing the powerful a powerful Catawba who had nipped them earlier in the tournament.  Their starting pitchers spent, the Rails would call on late inning set-up man Kyle Bandujo (Texas Permian-Basin) to stop the Stars on their home field.  Bandujo has not started a game since the dreadful 2011 season, but was up for the challenge.

Not only did Bandujo pitch well, but he doled out just two hits to the Stars in the first three innings.  Once again, the Rails fell behind in the fourth.  Erik Davis’s gap double would set up an RBI single for third baseman Ben Holland and post a one run lead for the Stars.

 

Cam Cassady (Roanoke College) who is normally an infielder, entered the game to pitch the sixth in relief of Bandujo and sat down the middle of the Stars vaunted line-up down on twelve pitches including a strike-out.

 

In the sixth, Bradley Mattox took one for the team and advanced to first base on a hit-by-pitch and scored on Chris Mitko’s triple to left center field.  Mitko would score on a clutch sacrifice fly by Jack Elliott, moving Clifton (also hit by a pitch) to second.  Again it was Russ again who would plate Clifton with yet another run producing single.

 

Facing Steve Ball in the last inning is like crossing the desert and finding a dry sponge in place of a cool drink, and so it went for the Stars. After walking the lead-off batter, Ball faced Geren Albury, inserted into the line-up as a bunt specialist.  Knowing the situation, Ball fired a high fast ball towards the plate which Albury bunted into the air. Streaking to the first baseline, the Big Cat pounced on the pop-up, spun, and double upped the runner at first.  Another walk followed, but the Stars were down to their last out.  Hoping to cash in on their base runners, the Stars tried to steal second base, but catcher Jack Elliott gunned him down to end the game and send his Rails to the championship game.

 

Tired, hot and covered with dirt, the Rails would have to face the regular season champion Kenersville Bulldogs with no pitchers left.  Shortstop Mitch Stevenson, who pitched at Southern Virginia in relief, threw his hat in the ring for starting job and would face Appalachian State’s  Amos Willmoth in the finals.

 

The Rails would collect just three hits off Wilmoth; singles by Mitko and Clifton and an opposite field double by Will Kaufman (Cal U of PA).  Stevenson went the full nine innings for the Rails allowing just six hits to the best hitting team in the league, and striking out three.

 

First year manager Jeremy Sink did a sensational job at the helm, guiding the Rails to their best season in team history.  Sink earned the confidence of his players, skillfully made use of every player’s talents, managed to always keep his team moving in the right direction despite several set-backs, and gained the respect of the CVCL coaches, players and fans in every city. 

The Roanoke Rails are now the little engine that can.