ABERDEEN, Md. – Chris Stanfield set the new Crosscutters franchise and Williamsport short-season stolen base record as the Williamsport Crosscutters won in dominate fashion over the Aberdeen IronBirds 9-1 on Sunday at IBEW Local 24 Union Field at Ripken Stadium.
Williamsport thought they had taken the early lead in the top of the first as Matthew Williams drove a ball straight down the right field line. Initially, the ball was called fair by the first base umpire and called a home run but after Williams rounded the bases and celebrated his two-run homer, the umpires came together and decided that it was, in fact, a foul ball. Williams would end up flying out to left, ending the threat.
It would instead turn out that the first runs of the game would be scored not by the bats of either team, but instead by the baserunning. In the bottom of the first, Aberdeen would execute a double steal as Patrick McCullough stole second while Jacoby Radcliffe stole home.
Williamsport would show they had that trick as well in the top of the second as Santino Panaro and Trey Wells would hit back-to-back singles, giving the Cutters runners on the corners, which setup Wells to steal second and the delayed steal of home by Panaro on the throw would tie the game 1-1 heading to the bottom of the second.
After Aberdeen left the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, Williamsport came back to the plate with Chris Stanfield leading off and ready to add his name to the history of professional baseball in Williamsport.
Stanfield would be hit by a 3-2 pitch to reach safety. This set him up to run his way straight into the record books as stole second and third to bring his stolen base total to 39, breaking both the Crosscutters franchise record and the Williamsport Short-Season record for stolen bases in a season that has been held by Tony Alvarez since 1999. This feat came just two nights after Stanfield also broke the MLB Draft League record for stolen bases in a season as well.
One batter after Stanfield set the record, Matthew Williams would help him celebrate by hitting his team-leading 10th home run of the season and his third in three games to give Williamsport a 3-1 lead in the middle of the third inning.
After a silent fourth, Williamsport would look to extend their lead in the fifth. Sam DeCarlo led things off with his eighth double of the season before Chris Stanfield capitalized on a throwing error by IronBirds third baseman Patrick McCullough to reach and move DeCarlo to third. Stanfield would then steal his third base of the season to put two in scoring position before a wild pitch by Michael Laudando would allow DeCarlo to score and Stanfield to move up to third.
Following the wild pitch, Jack Kail would lift a sacrifice fly to left, allowing Stanfield to come home and score and giving Williamsport a 5-1 lead in the middle of the fifth.
The scoring would calm until the seventh, where Williamsport broke it wide open. With one away, Sam DeCarlo singled and moved to third on Chris Stanfield’s sixth double of the season. Both would quickly score on a Jack Kail single. Another double came the Cutters way as James McCoy drove his 17th of the season, once again putting two in scoring position. Matthew Williams would quickly add another RBI to his total on the afternoon, scoring Kail and moving McCoy to third with a single. The scoring in the frame was capped with a Nicholas Romano sacrifice fly to left, scoring McCoy and giving Williamsport a 9-1 lead at stretch time.
The bottom of the eighth would see Aberdeen plate it’s first runs since the second inning, striking for two and cutting the Cutters lead to six at 9-3 as the game sent into it’s final inning.
Despite the six-run lead, Williamsport looked to add insurance runs in the ninth. Chris Stanfield worked a walk and moved to third on a Jack Kail single. This brought James McCoy to the plate who drove his tenth home of the season, once again tying Matthew Williams for the lead in the clubhouse, giving Williamsport a 12-3 lead, which would end up being the final score in the game.
Thanks to only facing three batters in Saturday night’s game at West Virginia, Cutters pitcher Evan Grimes was able to come back and make the start again 21 hours later at Aberdeen as well. Grimes ended up going the first three innings allowing one run on two hits with three walks and four strikeouts in a no-decision.
Brandon Scott would enter in the fourth to relieve Grimes and earned the win in his second appearance as a Crosscutters reliever, moving to 1-0 on the season after five innings of work that only allowed two runs on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Joel Tornero entered for the ninth in a non-save situation and faced four IronBirds, walking one, to end the ballgame.
With tonight’s victory, Williamsport moves a half-game ahead of Aberdeen and into first place in the MLB Draft League Second Half Standings. As the First Half Champions, Williamsport has already locked their spot in the MLB Draft League Championship Game and, should they also win the Second Half, would play the 2nd Place Team from the Second Half on September 2nd at Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field.
The road series at the Aberdeen IronBirds continues with the middle game of the three-game set Monday at IBEW Local 24 Union Field at Ripken Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Cutters Carvings - James McCoy now has 48 RBI on the season for Williamsport and is now fourth all-time in MLB Draft League History... James McCoy and Matthew Williams are now both tied for second all-time in single season home runs in MLB Draft League history... James McCoy is now tied for third place in doubles in MLB Draft League history with 17...
