Sitting in his chair along the first-base line Friday night, Pat Borders noticed a different demeanor in Bailey Falter on the mound. It was totally different than Falter’s first two outings for the Williamsport Crosscutters when the 19-year-old southpaw allowed eight runs over six innings.

The results Falter put together in his best start of the season matched what Borders was seeing from his chair. The manager watched the California native toss a brilliant five innings Friday night in a win over Batavia, striking out eight, not walking anyone, and surrendering only a first-inning unearned run.

“It was relaxation and he was a little more comfortable,” said Borders, the Cutters’ second-year manager. “He didn’t worry about doing something negative and instead worried about doing something positive. I think he realized he was worrying about the wrong thing. He had it in him, but you could see a more relaxed body and mind.”

The effort Falter put together Friday night in the opener of a three-game series was much like the results Borders and pitching coach Hector Berrios had seen from the former fifth-round draft pick during extended spring training in Florida. This was Falter pounding the strike zone. This was Falter inducing weak contact. This was Falter finishing off at-bats with quality pitches.

He had a season-high 23 called strikes Friday night. Five of his career high eight strikeouts were looking. And if it weren’t for two throwing errors on one play in the first inning, it would have been Falter’s fourth scoreless outing in 10 career starts.

“You know the saying about giving hitters too much respect? I think he came out of Florida for the first time, was under the lights and he was a little bit more pitching tentative as opposed to pitching aggressive,” Berrios said. “He had been pitching this way in Florida, it was just a matter of getting him mentally over that and realize he’s got better stuff than most of the hitters in this league.”

The difference between this outing and the first two for Falter was the way he pounded the strikezone. There was no nibbling, and instead he came right after hitters. He struggled to locate his fastball inside to right-handers early in the game. But when he caught his feel for the inside fastball in the third inning Friday, he flourished.

Four of his strikeouts came on fastballs inside which often had batters frozen. It’s an important pitch for a player who sat between 87 and 90 mph with his fastball. Both Berrios and Borders brought up Jamie Moyer’s name as they described Falter’s use of the inner half of the plate. It wasn’t a comparison to the left-hander who won 269 career big league games, it was more of a philosophy.

“Jamie Moyer pitched inside with 82-83 and was successful,” Borders said. “If (Falter) can locate it inside as a lefty to righties, and even to lefties, it’s very effective pitch. It’s all about location, location, location.”

“It’s about how you pitch inside,” Berrios said. “We have a system that we go by on how to pitch inside. They start feeling comfortable with it because they see the reactions of the hitters, and the hitters don’t react very well when you really locate the pitch where you’re supposed to.”

Both Berrios and Borders agreed the one positive start for Falter could be the first domino down in what becomes a string of strong outings, if for no other reason than the confidence it instilled in him.

“The more successful starts he has, the more confidence he builds and the harder it will be to take it away,” Borders said.

“He did it in the latter part of his last outing and transitioned that to this outing,” Berrios said. “And that’s kind of what we do as pitchers. We build like that.”

FUTURE PITCHING PLANS

Adonis Medina had his next start pushed back an extra day to today coming off a 99-pitch outing Monday. The 19-year-old right-hander out of the Dominican Republic makes his third start of the season at Bowman Field today in the series finale against Batavia.

In his last start, Medina threw a career-high 8 1/3 innings in a shutout win over Auburn. Medina threw 99 pitches as he chased the Cutters’ first no-hitter since 2013. Pushing him back an extra day will allow him more rest, according to Berrios.

“These kids are young,” Berrios said. “He only threw 99 pitches, but we’re making sure that he recovers well, so we’re giving him an extra day.”

Julian Garcia stepped into the rotation Saturday night for his first pro start, and the Cutters will go to a six-man rotation for the remainder of the season, just like it did all of last year.

Also, with the addition of JoJo Romero and Cole Irvin to the roster, it’s two more starting pitchers added to the staff. Romero and Irvin will make their pro debut Monday in a series opener against Connecticut. The two will be piggy-backing off one another for the time being, but Berrios said he wasn’t entirely sure if the organization would flip who started each game, or if they would be split up at some point.

“For right now they’re going with each other. We’re not going to tax them many innings this year,” Berrios said. “We’re going to get their feet wet, welcome them into professional baseball, get them all the little intricacies and build them as professionals so they really hit the ground running for next year.”

ROSTER MOVES

Jesus Alastre returned to the Cutters on Saturday after spending about a week with the Gulf Coast League Phillies. The 19-year-old Venezuelan hit .350 with the Cutters in six games before being sent to the GCL last week. He returned to add some depth to the Cutters’ outfield.

Left-handed reliever Jeff Singer was promoted to low Class A Lakewood following Friday’s game. Singer, a free agent signing last fall by the Phillies, allowed just two hits in 6 2/3 innings in four games for the Cutters. He struck out nine in his four games.

The Phillies also released Gandy Stubblefield, a 28th-round selection in the 2015 draft, who appeared in just two games for the Cutters this year. Stubblefield allowed two runs in two innings of work.