Williamsport, P.A. – Behind a stellar start from Zachary Murray, the Cutters clinched the first half of the MLB Draft League, topping the Thunder 6-3 on Tuesday night at Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field.
Murray, as he has done all season, set the tone on the mound for Williamsport. He worked 6.2 innings, allowing two runs and striking out six batters.
After 117 pitches, the right-hander was relieved with two out in the 7th inning, leaving to a standing ovation from the Journey Bank Ballpark crowd.
Williamsport offense backed Murray, using a six-run 2nd inning, taking advantage of Trenton Starter, Alec Rodriguez’s lack of control.
Rodriguez walked two and allowed a single to load the bases with one out in the inning before walking Porter Brown and JM Long back-to-back to give the Cutters a 2-0 lead.
Carter Dorighi plated two more with a single to right, scoring Max Mandler and Porter Brown to elevate the Williamsport lead to 4-0. Dorighi upped his RBI total to 13 with his league-leading 41st hit.
After a Thunder pitching change, JM Long scored on a wild pitch from Cade Udell, making it a 5-0 Cutters advantage.
McGwire Holbrook capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Dorighi to make it 6-0.
Trenton was able to get a couple runs off of Murray in the top of the 6th inning, getting a two-out, two-run single from Chris Reeder.
Daniel Barcena took over in the top of the 7th inning, picking up the final out of the frame. Barcena worked a total of an 1.1 innings of scoreless relief before handing it over to Brett Thomas for the 9th.
The Thunder were able to get an unearned run off of Thomas and bring the tying ru to the plate in the inning. Thomas got Rintaro Sasaki to fly out to left fielder Porter Brown, ending the game.
The Crosscutters will play the second game of the series with Trenton tomorrow night, scheduled first pitch is 6:35 p.m.
Cutters Carvings – Zachary Murray tied the Cutters MLB Draft League Era record with his 6th win of the season…The Cutters will host the MLB Draft League Championship on September 5th against the 2nd Half Champion…Williamsport made the title game in 2022, losing at West Virginia…
