Alexandria Aces Win Team's First Cal Ripken League Championship

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The Alexandria Aces, a summer baseball team for collegiate baseball players, won its first-ever Cal Ripken League Championship Saturday.

The first seed Alexandria team defeated the second seed Bethesda Big Train, 5-3 at Shirley Povich Field in Bethesda. Alexandria Aces has a 2-o sweep in the best-of-three series against Bethesda and had a perfect 4-0 record in the playoffs before the championship win.

The championship win was a bit of payback for the Aces, as the team was swept by Bethesda in the 2021 championship.

The Alexandria Aces secured the championship with key advances in the ninth inning. With the score tied at 3-3. Dylan Koontz got a walk and made it to second on CJ Boyd’s groundout in the next at-bat. Then as Koontz made a steal attempt to third, the Bethesda Big Train missed the throw to third, sending Koontz home to make the score 4-3.

Not long afterward, Cade Sullivan hit a home run and was cheered on my his teammates as he reached home. It was his third home run of the playoffs.

The game was closed out with a quick bottom of the ninth inning by all-star pitcher Ryan Brown. Then the team rushed the field to celebrate their first championship.

"It feels unbelievable. I can’t even put it into words," said Eddie Hacopian, the MVP of the series, via an Alexandria Aces game recap. "We just came out there, and out dogged them from start to finish."

This was the team's 15th season in the league. Members of the team attend various universities around the U.S. The Alexandria Aces play home games at Frank E. Mann Field at Four Mile Run Park.