The Wildcats, a Ripken Baseball team for ages 7 through 12, were connected to the Russian team by Harold Routzahn, of Wolfsville, who has known Spartak manager and president Pavel Gladikov for 20 years.

The two men met through former Walkersville High School baseball coach Paul Merrill, who did an exchange program in Moscow, Gladikov said. He and Merrill became friends, and Merrill brought Gladikov to Routzahn's sporting goods store, Middletown Sportsland.

Gladikov has been shopping there for the Spartaks ever since.

"We bought all we cannot buy in Moscow," Gladikov said. "There's nothing for baseball (in Moscow), and Internet (shopping) is very expensive."

Once the Wildcats became an official team, Routzahn had the idea for the Spartaks to play them on the Wildcats' newly restored field at the Wolfsville Ruritan Park on Brandenburg Hollow Road. The two teams played each other Wednesday, and then went to a Baltimore Orioles game together that night.

The teams were mostly playing for fun and did not keep an official score, according to Wildcats coach Sean Cameron.

The Spartaks also visited Atlanta and played several games there.

"For us, this is very important to teach different coaches' systems," Gladikov said.

Wednesday's game has been in the works for three months, according to Routzahn.

"I just wanted to help the Russian kids ... play a baseball game in a different country," Routzahn said.

The day was a sentimental victory for Wildcats coach Neal King, who said all the players were able to leave school early for the game. When King picked up his son, Matthew, he said students started chanting, "USA, USA."

"It's kind of neat," King said, adding that the "rain plan" was for the two teams to play Wiffle ball in the Wolfsville Elementary School gym.

The Wildcats' field has been restored with a new pitcher's mound, reset bases, a batter's box, a scoreboard and flagpoles, King said. Funding for the improvements came from local sponsorships.

"Anything like this is exciting for the community," he said. "And it's mostly for the kids that we were able to pull this off."

The Wildcats practice three to four times a week, according to Matthew King, 12, who said he wasn't sure what to expect when playing the Spartaks.

"They could be a team just like us or they could be the all-star team of their country," Matthew said. "It feels really cool that we get to play a team all the way from Russia."

Follow Laura Dukes on Twitter: @LauraDukesFNP.