Williamsport, P.A. – Cole Russo’s second home run of the season helped the Cutters to a their 8-4 victory over West Virginia, securing the series win on Thursday night at Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field.
Kyle LaCalameto set the tone early for Williamsport, featuring a mid-90’s fastball to strike out the side in the top of the 1st inning.
LaCalameto was looking for a bounce-back performance and he did just that, striking out a season-high eight batters over six innings, earning his first win of the season.
Williamsport jumped out to an early lead, as Riley Nelson clubbed a RBI double to right-center, chasing home Connor Shouse to make it 1-0 in the 1st. Josh Lopez followed with a RBI single to right, scoring Nelson to make it 2-0.
After the Black Bears tied the game at 2-2 with a run in each of the 2nd and 3rd innings, the Cutters bats backed their starter, as Cole Russo connected on a 364-foot home run to left, a two-run opposite field shot, to give the Cutters a 4-2 lead.
LaCalameto surrendered his final two runs of the outing in the top of the 5th, but his offense came to his aid, plating four runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to take the lead for good.
Josh Lopez came through yet again, smacking a two-run single into center field, scoring Max Mandler and Riley Nelson to give the Cutters a 6-4 advantage. Cole Russo capped the scoring with a two-run, two-out double to left-center, driving in Lopez and John Newman Jr, making it 8-4.
Alex Clemons entered from the Cutters pen in the 7th inning and delivered two shutout frames, striking out three batters.
Michael Ciminiello worked a scoreless 9th, striking out one, to close out the victory.
The Crosscutters will hit the road for five-straight games, starting with a three game series in Frederick, taking on the Keys Friday through Sunday before an off-day on Monday and a two game series at State College Tuesday and Wednesday. All games are available to stream free on Crosscutters.com and the MLB.tv App.
Cutters Carvings – Williamsport has won their first three series of the season…Four Cutters finished with multi-hit nights, Riley Nelson, Josh Lopez, Cole Russo and Lawson Knight…Russo leads the Cutters with 11 RBI…
