July 7th 2012, Staten Island, NY. - Chris Serritella hit his third homer in as many nights, while Jon Musser and Andre Kinder were effective in relief. However Williamsport couldn't climb out of an early five-run hole and lost to the Staten Island Yankees 7-4, Saturday night.

The loss continued a Crosscutter funk which has persisted over the past several series. Now 1-6 in the month of July, the Cutters have had trouble pitching and striking out at the plate.

Starter Delvin Perez walked six and allowed seven runs in just three innings, while the bats struck out ten times as a team. Williamsport has recorded 101 strikeouts in their last ten games and lead the New York-Penn League.

But it was also the same-old, same-old for Chris Serritella. He hit his fourth home run of the season to put the Cutters on the board first. The two-run blast in the top of the first may have been his longest yet as Serritella hit a towering shot to right that landed on the beach of the Upper New York Bay.

Serritella finished 2-for-2 and reached all four times.

The lead would not last long. A two-run double by Peter O'Brien in his first Yankee at-bat tied the game in the bottom half of the first.

Perez got himself into a groove, though, after that. He retired nine of the next eleven faced, but never fully seemed comfortable and drew three visits from pitching coach Aaron Fultz.

It all came undone in the fourth. Cutters third baseman Mitch Walding had a potential double play ball take a curious hop and skip by his ankles to score the go-ahead run from second. Then, Claudio Custodio hit a two-run double to make it 5-2. A walk later, and Perez's day was done.

Jon Musser, who had been lifted from the rotation due to recent struggles came into a tough situation. A wild pitch allowed Custodio to score before a sac fly plated Taylor Dugas for a 7-2 Yankee lead, but Musser would not earn a run this night.

He pitched three innings and looked his best all season in a good bounce-back game for the big right-hander.

Williamsport even put up a little rally in the sixth. Yan Carlos Olmo and Logan Moore had back-to-back singles and Olmo was able to score on a passed ball. Then, Roman Quinn hit a single up the middle which moved Moore to third. Quinn baited a Tim Flight throw on a wide turn at first, and Flight offered. The throw went into the outfield and allowed Moore to score to bring the score to within three runs.

Andre Kinder pitched two sterling innings in relief, but the bats were all quiet from there.

The Cutters drop to 8-12 and just a half-game from last place in the division. The Cutters play a day-game with Staten Island tomorrow, starting at 4 p.m.. You can listen to every pitch on ESPN Radio Williamsport 1050am, 104.1fm, or online at crosscutters.com

Cutters Carvings: RHP Ulises Joaquin was hospitalized with appendicitis and is expected to miss several weeks... Kevin Brady, who was expected to report to Williamsport once healthy, threw 1.2 innings for the GCL Phillies on Friday... Roman Quinn has reached in his last 11 games... Chris Serritella is 7-for-17 with three homers, six RBI and two doubles on the road trip... Tyler Greene is 0-for his last 14 with ten strikeouts... Chris Serritella and Cameron Perkins have both hit in their last six road games