MEET THE TEAM THAT BRINGS YOU THE TBOLTS ON THE INTERNET
PATRICK MORAN, BROADCASTER/MANAGER
Patrick begins his fourth season with the Thunderbolts. He began his TBolts career as a gameday intern. Then he worked his way up to Music Director responsible for gathering and playing all musical selections during the game which included players’ walk-up music. In subsequent seasons, he moved into the role of part time color commentator for both home and away games. He graduated from DeMatha Catholic High School this spring where he was part of the DeMatha Baseball Program. Outside of Thunderbolts media, he hosts his own podcast, Beyond the Ballpark. He is now in his second season with the Thunderbolts broadcast, website, and writing teams. He plans to attend McDaniel University in the fall. Patrick lives in Silver Spring.
SAM BERGSTROM, REPORTER/BROADCASTER
Sam joins the Thunderbolts from the Catholic University of America where he is both a journalist and a radio host. His articles appear in the CUA Tower, the university’s student-run paper. He also hosts a weekly radio show at Catholic called Deep Dive Live on WCUA. Sam is a graduate of Chatham High School in Chatham, New Jersey, where he produced sports videos for the Chatham High School YouTube channel and worked on a sports media blog, TheDyspatch, which has 770,000 likes and 7,000 followers. Sam will write Thunderbolts game reports on the team’s website, tbolts.org, and will also appear on Thunderbolts broadcasts. He plans to graduate in May of 2029 with a degree in Media and Communication Studies.
BRIAN ALVES, BROADCASTER
The Alexandria native, a graduate of Thomas Edison High School, was a play-by-play announcer and color commentator for Virginia Commonwealth University’s Men's and Women's Basketball teams on student-led radio station WVCW. He is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists and he produced his own podcast called, Total Sports Across the Board. Brian also serves as a Contributing Writer for The Commonwealth Times, the VCU student newspaper. At Thomas Edison High School, he played lacrosse where he received the Sportsmanship Award. He also competed in recreational and travel basketball. Last summer, he attended The American College of Greece. He graduates next year with a degree in Mass Communications.
PETER KELLY, BROADCASTER
Peter began play-by-play broadcasting of baseball and other sports at Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, Maryland, where he was Class Valedictorian. He spent two years as a public address announcer for the Putty Hill Panthers of the Maryland Collegiate Baseball League and worked as a Tournament Official for Ripken Baseball in Aberdeen where he was responsible for public address announcing, choosing musical selections, and running the scoreboard for youth baseball games. He attends the University of Maryland and currently broadcasts sports on WMUC. He graduates from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at UMD in 2029.
NICK ROHOLM, SOCIAL MEDIA
Nick returns to the Thunderbolts, where he began in 2021 as a gameday intern and worked in the broadcasting booth in parts of the 2022 season and all of 2023. This season for the Thunderbolts, he will focus on social media. Nick played youth ice hockey and for a college club team. He will finish his degree in Sports Management at the University of Maryland next spring. Nick currently works at Rockville Ice Arena as a youth hockey coach and rink maintenance technician.
NEAL LAVON, DIRECTOR OF MEDIA
Neal has been called Thunderbolts games on and off for 18 years on internet radio, and Takoma Park City TV. He manages the systems to broadcast all Thunderbolt regular season and playoff games both home and away, and did public address announcing for the Thunderbolts before moving into broadcasting. He also contributes to the Program, and maintains the team’s website. Neal lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, not far from Blair Stadium. He retired from the Voice of America in 2014 after 35 years as an on-air host and writer.