ALEXANDRIA, VA – With a warm breeze drifting through Frank Mann Field and an announced crowd of 165 in the stands—plus many more eager fans lining the outfield berm— the Alexandria Aces kicked off their seventeenth season in the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League on Wednesday evening with a dramatic Opening Day clash against the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts .

What looked like a potential runaway win for the Thunderbolts turned into a late-inning thriller. Down by six, the Aces stormed back to tie it in the bottom of the sixth, feeding off the energy of a fired-up home crowd. The Thunderbolts briefly regained the lead in the seventh, but Alexandria answered in the eighth to knot the game at seven each.

The deadlock held through the ninth, sending the opener into extra in

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