Lumber Comes To Life; Cutters Dominate In First Win
Granville, WV - It took seven days to do it, but the Williamsport Crosscutters used 16 hits to find the win column for the first time as they take the middle game of this three-game series against the West Virginia Black Bears 13-1. After a scoreless two innings to begin
Granville, WV - It took seven days to do it, but the Williamsport Crosscutters used 16 hits to find the win column for the first time as they take the middle game of this three-game series against the West Virginia Black Bears 13-1.
After a scoreless two innings to begin the game, Manny Jackson would double to right field and score on the next at-bat thanks to a Jack Oberdorf single. Oberdorf would follow-up his hit by being aggressive on the basepaths to steal second, take third on a wild pitch, and score on a second wild pitch to give Williamsport a 2-0 lead after three.
The big hits and making the most of mistakes continued into the fourth as Reed Chumley tripled to center field and would score on a wild pitch to make it 3-0. Torin Smith would smack a triple as well, but was left stranded.
In the fifth, one of Williamsport's big hits would finally leave the yard as Manny Jackson put the ball out to right-center for a solo home run.
🚨𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗥𝗨𝗡🚨
— MLB Draft League Data (@draftleaguedata) June 8, 2023
Manny Jackson (1)@crosscutters
🔥 98 MPH
🚀 26° LA
📏 386 FT@jaxn_manny @SpartanBSB pic.twitter.com/ZW016ZknOf
Later on in the fifth inning, Reed Chumley knocked a 2 RBI double, scoring Jack Oberdorf and Daunte Stuart. Chumley would score from second on the next at-bat as Edwin Toribio singled into right field to make it 7-0 Cutters.
Williamsport's offense, already up big, would keep their foot down heading into the sixth by sending ten men to the plate. After a Ryan Vogel single, a Manny Jackson walk, a wild pitch, and two stolen bases, Jack Oberdorf would pick up a single to score Vogel and move Jackson to third. Daute Stuart would single on a deflected ball to score Jackson. Chumley would load up the bases on a line drive single for Edwin Toribo, who added an RBI to his total with a groundout. Two batters later with the bases loaded again thanks to a Torin Smith walk, Joseph Sullivan added a 2-RBI ground-rule double that would score Stuart and Chumley, giving the Cutters a massive 12-0 lead through six.
The scoreboard would go quite after the big inning until the eighth, as West Virginia capitalized on a Daunte Stuart fielding error at shortstop to pick up their only run of the ballgame. However, Williamsport would get the run back in the ninth thanks to a Jack Oberdorf groundout, scoring Joseph Sullivan who led-off the inning with a single, giving Oberdorf his third RBI of the night and capped off the scoring at 13-1 for the ballgame.
On the bump, Burgess worked a stellar four innings in his start, allowing three hits and three walks but stranding every Black Bear on the bases thanks in part to four strikeouts in a no decision. Reliever Ryan Geraghty (1-1) picked up the win with an inning of relief, allowing no hits, no walks, and striking out two.
In total, Cutters pitching would allow just 1 Black Bears run on 4 hits, 5 walks, and would strike out 13 in route to victory, marking the best outing for the pitching staff in the early part of the 2023 season.
With the win, Williamsport improves to 1-5 on the season and remains in 6th in the MLB Draft League Standings.
The Cutters wrap up this three game set in West Virginia tomorrow night at 6:30pm before returning home to make the 2023 debut of the Williamsport Potato Capers against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. Tickets are still available and can be purchased in-person at the Muncy Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field Box Office from 10am - 1pm, by calling (570)326-3389, or by visiting Crosscutters.com.