FORMER THUNDERBOLT ZACH RACUSIN WINS HIS FIRST PRO RING IN HIS TENTH PRO SEASON

SILVER SPRING, FEBRUARY 1—Former Thunderbolt great Zachary Racusin (2015, 2016) has been playing organized baseball for most of his 32 years. Since 2013, he has played on five college teams, thirteen Independent League teams (several of them twice or more), and two sojourns of summer ball with the Thunderbolts.

And not once did he win a championship—that is, until last month. On January 21, Zach finally earned a ring as a right fielder with the Leones de Leon team of the Nicaraguan Professional Baseball League (Liga de Béisbol Profesional Nacional or LBPN). Leon won its tenth Championship—the most in League history—and second in a row by defeating Rivas Gigantes, 1-0, in the seventh and deciding game of the Championship Series, La Gran Final.

“I won my first pro ring in my tenth pro season,” Racusin told us.

Racusin was one of the greatest Thunderbolts to don the red, white, and blue. For his two seasons with the Bolts in the Ripken League, he hit an overall .335 and had an .805 OBP in 74 games. He still holds the Thunderbolts record for hits in a single season with 58 in 2016 when he batted .352.

After college ball, he embarked on a ten-year career in Independent Baseball with a combined .283 average and an OBP of .708.

Racusin’s road to Nicaragua began last spring. “I got in touch with the team back in the early spring coming off a strong season with Long Island in the Atlantic League in 2024, “ he said. There are only a few legitimate winter leagues in the Caribbean, and they scout American affiliated and partner league teams for import players. They reached out and we cut a deal.”

Winter baseball in Nicaragua, said Racusin, is played at a high level. “As far as the quality of play, it's a very good league. The pitching is very tough,” he said, “there are a lot of guys with Major League experience down there, just like in all the winter leagues, and with such a scarcity of jobs everywhere these days, it is very competitive. “

One of those guys with Major League experience is a former 11-time Gold Glove shortstop with 24 years in the bigs, Omar Vizquel. Vizquel managed Rivas Gigante, the team that Racusin’s Leones defeated for the Nicaraguan championship.

“Having people like Omar being part of the league is a great thing,” Racusin went on, “there's a lot of guys with high level MLB, AAA, Mexico, NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball), and KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) experience down there and you have to be able to adjust and navigate to how veteran pitchers may try to attack you, because they are smart and experienced and will not give in.”

Racusin was the everyday right fielder for Leones de Leon and was named to the All-Star game. In the All-Star game he played for the Extranjeros or Estrellas (foreigners) team against an all-Nicaraguan squad, the Nacionales. Vizquel managed the Estrellas and the manager of Zach’s team, Leones de Leon, Sandor Guido, managed the Nacionales.

Playing for Leon worked out well for Zach, who fit in easily, “I really enjoyed our clubhouse, we had very good chemistry as a team and gelled down the stretch. We weren't necessarily that hot at the beginning of the season but got hot at the right time and started to get on a roll during the round robin portion of the playoffs.”

He added, “I speak fluent Spanish, so I felt comfortable communicating with everybody on the team, and I attribute a lot of my success down there to being comfortable in communication. We also had a decent chunk of American imports (seven of 43), so it made for a good blend.”

[CLICK ON THE X TO SEE RACUSIN’S NEW YEARS GREETING IN SPANISH]

The fans in Nicaragua were one of the highlights of playing there, he said: “The crowds and fanbases and the atmosphere down there, particularly during the playoff stretch, were absolutely unbelievable.” Racusin went on to recall that, “The amount of passion they have for their teams and the intensity on each pitch made it an unforgettable environment. Towards the end, you are playing in front of as many as ten thousand people a night. People recognize you on the street. It's a whole different thing than playing in the Minor Leagues in the States.

“You really feel that you are representing the town and your region and the community there and it's a very cool feeling to deliver. Our championship celebration felt like it lasted two full days.”

During the season, he finished with a .286 batting average and an .824 OPS. He also was among the leaders in the Championship Series hitting .316.

Racusin will stay south of the border as he was selected to play in the upcoming Serie de Las Americas. The Serie includes champions of leagues in Argentina, Curacao, Colombia, and Nicaragua, with Cuba, Panama, and Brazil sending their respective national teams. The Serie starts this week (February 5) and goes through February 13.

Following that, Zach says all options are on the table for the spring and summer of 2026. But whatever happens down the road, he won’t forget his first championship ring—ten years in the making—or his winter home: “Nicaragua is a beautiful country, and I will always look back fondly upon spending my time in Leon.”

Just as the Thunderbolts looked back fondly on his spending time with the team in 2015 and 2016.

We’ll try and update Zach’s adventures in the Serie de Las Americas and beyond in the weeks ahead. Thanks to former Thunderbolt board member David Stinson and Zachary Racusin for their help with this article.

THUNDERBOLTS 2026 SCHEDULE NOW ON WEBSITE

SILVER SPRING, JANUARY 20—The 2026 Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League (CRCBL) schedule for the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts is now up on the Schedule link. The schedule, in .pdf format, is both downloadable and can also be printed.

Once again, the Thunderbolts will play 40 games—20 home and 20 away.

The T-Bolts will play each team in their Division—the North Division—eight times (four home , four away). That’s eight games each against the Bethesda Big Train, the Gaithersburg Giants, and the Olney Cropdusters. Each team in the League’s South Division—the Alexandria Aces, the Southern Maryland Senators, the DC Grays, and the Metro SoCo Braves—will play the Thunderbolts four times (two home, two away).

The All-Star Game this season will feature a select team from the Ripken League taking on a similar team from the Valley League. The Valley League is a 12-team summer wooden collegiate baseball league based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It dates back to 1897 as a Class D Minor League. It then went to an NCAA sanctioned league in the 1960s and transitioned to its present status in 2011. As of 2021, twenty-five Valley League alumni had played in the Major Leagues and 21 were selected in the 20-round MLB draft.

The site of the game is yet to be determined.

The Thunderbolts again have a front-loaded home schedule with 13 games scheduled in June while hosting only seven in July. The
T-Bolts will once again play a Sunday morning game (10:00 am) against Bethesda at Shirley Povich Field.

There will be two scheduled doubleheaders this season. The first, on the road against the Alexandria Aces at Frank Mann Field, is slated for Saturday, June 20. Although the times are officially TBD, traditionally, the first game starts at 4:30 pm and will be a seven-inning affair which will be followed by a full nine-inning contest starting around 7. Those times might change.

The second at home will be one week later—Saturday, June 27—against the Southern Maryland Senators, with the same start times and duration.

Doubleheaders may also be scheduled during the season due to rainouts or other postponements.

Two teams are likely to change ball fields this season. The DC Grays, who played at Woodbridge, VA High School last season, are hoping to return to Washington as they are in talks with Catholic University to play their home games at the school’s Talbot Field. The Southern Maryland Senators’ home field last season was Regency Furniture Stadium—home of the independent Atlantic League’s Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. In 2026, the Sens will play at North Point High School in Waldorf.

North Point does not have lights so all Sens home games will begin at 5:00 pm. Games vs the Olney Cropdusters at First Responder Field OBGC are still scheduled at 5:00 pm even though the team installed lights last season.

Check the schedule often as games, locations, and times change due to weather, team requirements, and field availabilities.

The Ripken League’s post-season format will remain the same with all eight teams making the playoffs. The top teams in the two Divisions will earn first-round byes, while the other six will play off based on standings and tiebreakers.

The playoffs are scheduled from July 23-July 29.

THUNDERBOLTS 2026 TICKETS NOW ON SALE

SILVER SPRING, JANUARY 20—Sure, it’s under 30 degrees out and there is some residual snow on the ground.

Sounds like baseball weather to me.

And with that observation, we can say that tickets for the 2026 season of the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts are now on sale. Click over to the Tickets tab and you will find all the information you need to purchase individual game tickets or season passes. The Thunderbolts begin their season on the road against Bethesda on June 2 and return to Blair for the home opener against Gaithersburg on June 3. We’ll have the schedule up in a while so you can see how the season is structured.
See ya at Blair.

THUNDERBOLTS JOB OPENINGS

Silver Spring, January 10, 2026

OPENING DAY - June 3, 2026 vs. Gaithersburg Giants 7:00 pm game at Blair Stadium. Check out our schedule at Tbolts.org.

THUNDERBOLTS JOBS 2026- NOW RECRUITING

Director- Game Day Operations- part time position in June and July each year. Duties include supervision and management of game day operations and pre game activities. Applicants 20 years or older with experience in management operations.(Approximate work hours per game are 4-11pm). Pay rate: $30/hour. There are no additional benefits with this position. Please submit a short letter of interest including background to Tboltsbaseball@Gmail.com or mail to Thunderbolts Baseball 7110 Maple Ave Takoma Park, MD 20912. Applicant deadline April 1, 2026.

Assistant Camp Director - Work with Thunderbolts Camp Director checking in and checking out campers, supervise lunches, coordinate on field schedules of counselors, fill in where needed in training sessions and assemble all equipment each day. Hours: 8:30- 3:15 pm; Dates of work: M-F (5 weeks) June 22-July 24 at Blair Baseball Stadium; Age: 19-24 years old: Stipend $2400.

Music Director– responsible for coordinating game day music. Position requirements: work hours: 6-10:30 p.m.; Dates of work: Twenty (20) selected dates at Blair Baseball in June and July; Age: 17-24 years old; nominal stipend.

Management Interns: Two (2) vacancies for June 2-July 24 (20-22 game days) Duties: Interns will be involved in all aspects of team operations and will rotate through assignments such as marketing/publicity; food service and concessions; stadium maintenance; fan liaison services; game-day promotions; fan party management and general fan service. Age 17 -24.Work:4:00 – 11:00 p.m. on home game days (20-22 dates). Nominal stipend.

Bat Boy/Bat Girl Positions. We will have four (4) bat boy/bat girl positions this season. Bat boy/bat girls will work in teams of two each game from 6 pm to end of game. Positions are open for students age 10-13 years of age. The league season runs from June 2- July 31. Unpaid positions

Application Process: Please send a short letter of interest, including your contact information, EITHER by email to tboltsbaseball@gmail.com or by regular mail to Intern Position, SS-T Thunderbolts, 7110 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park, MD 20912. Specify which internship or other position you are applying for during the summer. Deadline is April 15, 2026. Selections to be made by early-May, 2025.

MEDIA INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIES NOW AVAILABLE
Silver Spring, January 6, 2026

The Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts now have updated media job openings for this upcoming summer, and we would love expressed interest! Click the Media tab and go to Internships to find out what positions need to be filled for another great summer in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League.

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