Williamsport Crosscutters defeat State College on the road, 10-3

In just their second game over the last twelve days, the Williamsport Crosscutters were able to use a strong pitching performance and capitalized on six State College errors and ten walks to snap a four-game losing streak, defeating the Spikes, 10-3, on Saturday night.

Nick Cosentino got the start for Williamsport and showed a return to his early season form in his three innings of work. After retiring the first four Spikes he faced in order, Cosentino allowed a single and an RBI double in the second inning, giving State College the early 1-0 lead.

Following those two hits, Cosentino would start a streak of 14 Spikes batters being retired in order that reached into the seventh inning and covered the outings from the bullpen of Kyle Murphy and Brian Rodriguez.

During that streak, the Crosscutters were able to use three Spikes errors and their first hit of the ballgame to take the lead. Sean Ross, leading off the fifth inning, was able to get things started as he reached via the first Spikes error, stole second, and advanced to third base on another Spikes error. This was quickly followed by a Noah Hemphill strikeout, but Hemphill was still able to reach on a dropped third strike, assisted by the third error by the Spikes in just two at-bats. Steven Nitch would capitalize with a two RBI double that scored both Ross and Hemphill, while Nitch would take third as well on a throw home, and then score on a wild pitch, giving the Cutters a 3-1 lead.

The Cutters offense exploded in the eighth inning thanks to State College struggles. The first six Williamsport batters were walked and three Cutters scored in that time period as Michael Turconi scored on a wild pitch and two more runs came from RBI walks by Steven Nitch and Ramone Bramasco, scoring Sean Ross and Alec Burns respectively. Williamsport ended the eighth inning with seven runs scored.

Kyle Murphy, in his first appearance in a Crosscutters uniform, earned the win and now holds a 1-0 record in the MLB Draft League.

With the win, Williamsport improves to 17-19-2.