Niles, Ohio - Using the momentum from the previous night’s Sudden Death walk-off victory, the Williamsport Crosscutters took the opening game of this three-game series against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers by a final score of 10-6 at 7 17 Credit Union Field at Eastwood on Friday night.
Using the momentum from the defense in the bottom of the 1st, who turned a bases-loaded threat into an inning ending double play, the Cutters offense would be the first to strike in the second.
Matthew Williams led off with a single to left and advanced to second on a passed ball allowed by Scrappers catcher Mike Young. Two batters later, Chris Stanfield would smack a line drive to left for a single that moved Williams to third.
Always the threat on the basepaths, Stanfield swiped his 27th bag of the season which drew a poor throw from catcher Mike Young. Young’s throwing error would allow Williams to come home, giving Williamsport the early 1-0 lead.
Jumping ahead to the fourth inning and Williamsport would strike again. With one away in the inning, the Cutters would get back-to-back-to-back singles from Matthew Williams, Jack Kail and Chris Stanfield to load the bases.
The bags would not stay full for long as Trey Wells used a line drive double to right field, his first of the season, to plate Williams, Kail and Stanfield.
Wells would score as well two batters later thanks to a fielding error by Mahoning Valley shortstop Kaikea Harrison on a batted ball from Sam DeCarlo, pushing the Crosscutters lead to 5-0 in the middle of the fourth.
Trey Wells would keep the offense going in the sixth inning as well, reaching on a ground ball single to left. Wells would immediately be driven in as Jake Zitella tripled to center, his first of the season.
Zitella wouldn’t hang out on the bases either, scoring on the next at-bat thanks to a Sam DeCarlo sacrifice fly to extend Williamsport’s lead once again, now standing at 7-0.
Mahoning Valley’s offense ended the shutout as Williamsport went to the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh, striking for three runs to trim the Cutters lead to 7-3.
Williamsport’s offense would respond to get the three runs right back in the top of the eighth. Chris Stanfield led the inning off with a single to center, followed by Trey Wells with his second double of the game and the season to put two in scoring position for Jake Zitella.
Zitella would ground to third for what should have been a groundout, but a throwing error by Scrappers third baseman Tervell Johnson, Mahoning Valley’s third error of the game, would allow Zitella to reach and advance to second while Stanfield and Wells would both score.
Two batters later, Zitella advanced to third on a Blake Barker wild pitch and score thanks to a sacrifice fly by Nicholas Romano to give Williamsport a 10-3 lead.
The Scrappers would get two more runs which would cap the scoring for the night at 10-5 with Williamsport picking up the victory to open the series.
Josh Willitts earned the win in his sixth start of the season, improving to 2-0, after six shutout innings on the bumps, allowing five hits with two walks and a strikeout.
Joel Tornero struggled as the first out of the bullpen, surrendering five runs on three hits with five walks and a strikeout in 1.1 innings pitched.
Davin Pollard would enter in the eighth to stop the bleeding and go the final 1.2 innings allowing one run on one hit with two walks and two strikeouts to preserve the win.
Williamsport continues this six-game, seven-day road trip with the middle game of this three-game set against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers on Saturday night. First pitch from 7 17 Credit Union Field at Eastwood is set for 7:05 p.m. with the Cutters sending RHP Kenney Fabian (1-2, 6.00 ERA) to the mound against Scrappers RHP Matt Davis (0-1, 10.38 ERA).
Cutters Carvings: Trey Wells picked up his first three RBI game for Williamsport in the victory... Trey Wells and Chris Stanfield each recorded a three-hit night for the Cutters... Despite the ten runs scored, Williamsport hit just 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position...
