HAGERSTOWN, Md. — The Hagerstown Flying Boxcars had everything working in their favor Friday night — the weather, the crowd and, most importantly, the baseball.
In front of an announced crowd of 3,526 at Meritus Park, the Boxcars rallied from a three-run deficit to beat the York Revolution 8-5 in their home opener, improving to 3-1.
York is the two-time defending Atlantic League champion, while Hagerstown finished with the league’s worst record in each of its first two seasons.
“It turned into a beautiful night for baseball, especially compared to our opening nights the first two years. They were rainy and cold — kind of like it’s going to be the rest of the weekend,” said David Blenckstone, the Boxcars’ general manager. “But it turned out to be a beautiful night, for sure.
“Great crowd, great energy. … The crowd is ready for some winning baseball.”
The team’s offseason brought significant change.
“Lots of changes on the field — new manager, mostly new coaching staff, almost an entirely new roster,” Blenckstone said. “We’re off to a great start, but we’re only four games into the season — a lot of games to go.
“There’s a great vibe with these guys,” he said. “They’re super good guys. They work hard and, so far, are playing really good baseball.”
Ossie Abreu, the only player on the team since its 2024 inception, had a big day at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, triple, walk and three RBIs.
After trailing 3-0 in the first inning, the Boxcars clawed back to take a 4-3 lead in the fourth. Abreu broke it open in the sixth with a three-run triple into the left-center-field gap, making it 7-3.
“We’ve got a really good group of guys who are really resilient,” said new Boxcars manager Mark Minicozzi. “We have a lineup that is going to keep plugging away and have good at-bats.
“That was a huge hit, a huge at-bat for Ossie to come up with that triple.”
The bullpen took care of the rest in relief of former big leaguer DJ Johnson, who pitched three innings in Friday’s start.
“Our strength is our bullpen,” Minicozzi said. “We have seven or eight arms that can really pitch, and it showed tonight. We went to the pen in the fourth inning. DJ is building up as a starter, so he went three tonight, and we were able to use our bullpen. They were pretty lights-out. It’s exciting to see that.
“We’re just going to get stronger as we go.”
Robert Brooks hit a solo home run for Hagerstown, Tyler Williams and Alex Isola each doubled, and Bryce Cannon had two RBIs.
For Boxcars fan Garrett Kercheval, there was no place he would have rather been Friday night. The 24-year-old Hagerstown resident attended his third straight home opener and said he plans to attend at least 75% of the team’s home games for the third straight season.
“I love coming out and going to the games,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s competitive baseball; it’s fun to watch. It gives you an opportunity to see some MLB guys — $12-13 tickets, you can’t beat that. Even if I can’t get here until the fifth inning, I’m trying to be here.”
Kercheval also likes what he’s seen from the team early this season.
“We’re very young in this league. We’re still on the grind and on the path to becoming a winning baseball program,” he said. “It looks very good so far. We won our first series (against the Long Island Ducks). Fingers crossed — hope it’s a winning team this season. That’s what’s going to drive it.”
