Aberdeen, Md. - The Williamsport Crosscutters used the one of the best starts of the season from Josh Willitts and 16 hits from the offense to avoid the road sweep against the Aberdeen IronBirds, picking up the 12-8 victory in the series finale at IBEW Local 24 Union Field at Ripken Stadium on Thursday night.
Williamsport started the scoring in the first inning for the second time in the series, this time using back-to-back singles from Chris Stanfield and Nicholas Romano to setup Matthew Williams for a sacrifice fly to plate Stanfield, giving the Cutters a 1-0 lead.
The Crosscutters extended their lead in the second with a crooked number. Jack Kail led things off with a single and a stolen base before a Sam DeCarlo walk put two runners on for Nick Barone. Barone would double to left, scoring both Kail and DeCarlo before taking third on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Chris Stanfield would drive in Barone, giving Williamsport a 4-0 lead in the middle of the second.
Aberdeen would get a run back in the bottom of the frame on a lead-off home run to cut the lead to 4-1 after two innings.
Trey Wells started off the third for Williamsport getting on the painful way as he was hit by a pitch, then stole second for his first swiped bag of the year. Wells moved to third on a double by Sam DeCarlo and scored on a Nick Barone single. During the next at-bat, DeCarlo was able to score from third as Barone was caught stealing at second to cap the two run inning for the Cutters, extending the lead to 6-1.
Another run came quickly for the Crosscutters in the fourth as Nicholas Romano singled to start the inning and scored on a James McCoy double before McCoy was out trying to turn it into a triple, extending the lead once again to 7-1 in the middle of the fourth.
Both Aberdeen and Williamsport would go on to trade scoreless frames until the top of the seventh inning.
Jack Kail would be hit by a pitch, Nick Barone would single and Joey DeMucci would walk to load the bases for Chris Stanfield. Stanfield would pick up an RBI hit by pitch to score Kail and Barone would score thanks to a balk by IronBirds reliever Sebastian Bentz to make the lead 9-1 for Williamsport heading into stretch time.
Aberdeen would start coming back in the bottom of the eighth, plating three runs.
Williamsport would get those runs right back in the ninth. Nick Barone and Chris Stanfield both reached via singles before both scoring on a ground-rule double off the bat of James McCoy. McCoy would score as well on a Matthew Williams single to give Williamsport a 12-4 lead while Aberdeen was down to their final three outs.
Aberdeen would attempt the rally in the bottom of the ninth but could only strike for four runs, bringing the game to it's final score of 12-8 in favor of the Williamsport Crosscutters.
Josh Willitts tossed seven complete innings and allowing just a single run on a home run, four total hits, no walks and struck out seven IronBirds for his third win of the year.
Joel Tornero only managed to face three batters before being lifted without recording an out in the eighth inning, allowing a hit and two walks while all three batters faced scored.
Davin Pollard entered to replace Tornero in the eighth and got out of the inning allowing no more hits and one walk.
Brody Roe closed the game for Williamsport and preserved the win, despite allowing four runs on four hits with a walk and a strikeout in the ninth in a non-save situation.
The Crosscutters return home to open a three-game series against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled on 6:35 p.m. at Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field.
Cutters Carvings: Nick Barone picked up his first four-hit game of 2026, going 4-for-5... Chris Stanfield recorded his second three-hit game of the series... Using his two RBI tonight, Matthew Williams became the third Crosscutters player to get to the 30 RBI mark this season...
