Crosscutters dominate State College
The pitching combination of Jordan Guth, winning pitcher Holby Milner, Matthew Sisto and Zach Cooper one-hit the Spikes, whose only hit was on the second at-bat of the game.
Mitch Walding went 4-for-5 with four RBI, while Chris Serritella was 3-for-4 with two RBI.
The Spikes took the lead in the top of the first, but Williamsport answered with two runs in the bottom half. Roman Quinn led off by stretching a grounder to right field into a double. He then scored when Spikes First Baseman Jared Lakind's throw home went high into the netting. Quinn has now forced 5 errant throws on the basepaths, and continued to excite the 1,500 fans who watched at Bowman Field. More on Quinn later.
The floodgates opened in the fourth inning, when State College called in reliever Dalton Friend. He allowed five hits to the six batters he faced and was replaced by Justin Ennis. He struggled also. The tenth of twelve batters overall to hit in the inning, Walding plated two runs with a smash single off the wall in center and capped a seven-run frame for the Cutters. Williamsport held a 9-1 lead through four.
Larry Greene reached on his first four plate appearances. He lined a double the opposite way in the fifth inning to up the score to 10-1.
The highlight of the night, however, happened in the top of the seventh. Spikes' DH Jacob Stalling grounded a pitch off the second base bag. The ball hopped in the air to the first base side, where Shortstop Quinn picked it out of the air, made a complete spin and got the runner in-time at first.
Mitch Walding wasn't finished. He added injury to insult in the bottom half of the seventh. Walding drove home two more on a ground ball up the middle to increase the Cutters' lead to 13-1.
Williamsport improves to 2-1 on the year and sit one game back of the Auburn Doubledays in the Pinckney Division.
The Crosscutters travel to State College tomorrow to close out the Sawbuck series with the Spikes. First pitch is slated for 7:05 pm.
Cutters Carvings: Three of the four Cutters' pitchers made their pro debuts; Jordan Guth (9th round), Hoby Milner (7th) and Zach Cooper (15th) were all picked in the 2012 draft... Mitch Walding leads the Cutters in Batting Average (.462) and hits (6)... Every Crosscutter in the starting lineup had a hit... Williamsport's 17 hits were the most by any team in the NY-Penn League in the 2012 season