Olney Cropdusters even Ripken league championship finals to force winner-take-all game 3

Cropdusters eye their first championship as Big Train look to make it a four-peat

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July 31, 2026 11:22 a.m.

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For the last four seasons, the Bethesda Big Train has been a dynasty in the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League and going into Thursday night’s game up 1-0 in a best-of-three series, it looked like they were poised to celebrate another championship in front of their home crowd at Shirley Povich Field in Rockville.

But the Olney Cropdusters, the No. 1 overall seed in the conference this season, would not go down easily, earning a 15-7 win, tying the series at 1-1 and setting up a deciding game 3 Friday night in Olney.

“We didn’t want [Wednesday] to be our last home game,” Cropdusters head coach Adam Leader told Bethesda Today postgame and referring to the 6-5 Big Train win in 10 innings. “We wanted to make it a good series, and we were ready to come out tonight and take care of business.”

The scoring for the Cropdusters started quickly in the first inning, when first baseman Dylan Melton hit a ground-rule double bringing in the first run of the game.

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Before long, the Cropdusters loaded the bases and quickly took advantage, as Andrew Duncan hit an RBI single, bringing in two more runs. The Cropdusters would score three more times in the top of the third inning, leading to the Big Train pulling starting pitcher Charlie Hoagland.

The Big Train were able to get on the board in the bottom of the third, with a double by first baseman Emilio Gonzalez and a sacrifice fly from third baseman Logan Ponnett.

The Big Train continued to cut into the deficit, scoring in the fourth, fifth and six innings to pull within two and making the score 7-5 going into the eighth inning – which is when momentum completely shifted.

A leadoff home run from Cropdusters outfielder Cade Walter over the high wall in center field started what would be a seven-run eighth inning to put the Cropdusters ahead for good.

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The Cropdusters would end up winning game 2 of the best-of-three series by a final score of 15-7.

For Leader, the opportunity for the Cropdusters to win their first Ripken League title is huge for the team and the fanbase, especially if they were to do it against a team with as much historical success as the Big Train.

“We respect [the Big Train] program so much,” Leader said. To beat them at our place “would be incredible. … The plan is to come out ready to rock and roll tomorrow.”

First pitch is set for 6 p.m. Friday at First Responder Field at OBGC Park (4501 Olney Laytonsville Road, Olney). Tickets are available here.

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Originally published at Bethesdamagazine