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Crosscutters struggled to score in 1-run loss to Muckdogs

By MITCH RUPERT

mrupert@sungazette.com

The Williamsport Crosscutters’ 2-1 loss to Batavia on Sunday ended the way so many of their at-bats had ended throughout the nine innings at Bowman Field. Zach Wolf’s strikeout of Jake Holmes with the tying run in scoring position encompassed so much of what happened during the five-game homestand which ended with a 1-4 record.

Williamsport was unable to cash in on its scoring chances outside of a 10th inning comeback Saturday night. That trend continued Sunday as the Cutters were again hitless with runners in scoring position and struck out 14 times as Batavia earned a split of the brief two-game series.

The Cutters go into the two-day New York-Penn League All-Star break with a 23-32 record and coming off a disappointing homestand where the offense just couldn’t match the pitching staff’s success.

“I think this whole homestand we’ve had competitive at-bats. The scoreboard may not show it, but I felt like as a team we’ve done a good job of competing up there at the plate,” said Cutters outfielder Danny Mayer, who was a triple shy of the cycle yesterday. “We hit the ball hard the past few days and some of it didn’t fall. It’s just part of the game.”

Williamsport had come into the brief homestand riding the good feelings of a three-game sweep of West Virginia and a series win at Auburn. But the offense struggled mightily all weekend to get anything going. The Cutters scored just five combined runs in the series and were shut out twice.

The offense was held to just five hits in 32 at-bats (.156) with runners in scoring position and stranded 27 runners on base. Sunday was much of the same as the Cutters went 0 for 4 and left four runners on base, including Mayer in the ninth inning.

In fact, the only run Williamsport scored yesterday came on Mayer’s first-inning solo home run which traveled an estimated 417 feet and clanged off the middle of the BB&T Ballpark sign in left-center field. After winning five of six to climb within six games of .500, the 1-4 homestand put the Cutters nine games under .500 with only 21 games left in the season.

“It’s the perfect timing (for the All-Star break) right now,” Cutters manager Pat Borders said. “I guarantee this will help. Regardless of if it shows up in the numbers on the field, it doesn’t matter. It’s going to help them feel better and help them cross the finish line of the season strong.”

“It’s been a long season with not a lot of days off,” Cutters starting pitcher Ethan Lindow said. “We’ll go home for a couple days and come back to the grind.”

Lindow isn’t one of the six Crosscutters who will be playing in Tuesday’s All-Star game in State College despite being one of Williamsport’s most reliable starting pitchers. The left-hander and former fifth-round pick threw his second scoreless outing of the season yesterday to lower his season ERA to 2.72.

His five shutout innings came with some high-stress situations, but the situation never overpowered Lindow. He stranded runners on first and second in the second inning when he caught a foul pop-up in front of the Williamsport dugout. He stranded the bases loaded in the third with a lazy fly ball to left field.

Lindow then stranded a runner on second after a one-out double with a line drive to short and a nice running catch in the right-field corner by Mayer. He finished his outing striking out New York-Penn League home run leader Sean Reynolds with a breaking ball and a runner on third base in the fifth inning.

Lindow threw 53 of his 86 pitches for strikes and allowed just four hits. His strikeout of Reynolds was his third and final one of the game.

“I missed a couple pitches that were close and kind of got frustrated with myself,” Lindow said. “I was getting away from my fastball and trying to do too much instead of attacking the hitters when my fastball was really good (Sunday). But I was calm and relaxed in tight situations. I just tried to pitch my game and whatever happens, happens.”

“I think (catcher Rafael) Marchan made some nice pitch selections calling the game,” Borders said. “Between him and Marchan calling some decent pitches and then executing them and knowing how to exploit some of the hitters’ weaknesses, I thought they did a really good job.”

Williamsport carried the 1-0 lead fromMayer’s fourth homer of the season through six innings. Batavia didn’t get on the board until a throwing error with two outs allowed a run to score in the seventh inning.

Batavia’s Albert Guaimaro hit a bouncer through the middle which deflected off pitcher Tyler Carr to Holmes at third base. Holmes’ throw to first sailed high allowing Guaimaro to reach and Pablo Garcia to score from second base to tie the score at 1-1.

“It was a weird play,” Borders said. “You wouldn’t want (Holmes) to eat it there. You want him to be aggressive like that. If he gets the throw down, (Guaimaro) is out. You can’t say don’t throw it. He’ll know how to make the adjustment for next time.”

Batavia took a lead in the eighth inning when Luke Jarvis doubled to left-center to score Denis Karas. Carr stranded the bases loaded with a pair of ground balls to minimize the damage, but Williamsport had just one baserunner over the final two innings and couldn’t tie the game.

“It’s frustrating, but it’s part of the game,” said Mayer, who was 3 for 4 and made a pair of stellar plays in right field. “The ultimate goal is to try to score runs and not let the other team score runs. When we’re competing and not able to do that, it’s a little frustrating.”

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