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Early runs, dominant pitching leads Crosscutters in sweep of State College

By Evan Wheaton 4 min read

In the first half of the MLB Draft League season, the Crosscutters jumped out to a 4-0 start to the summer. On Wednesday, Williamsport did one better and made it five straight to open the second half.

Behind early runs and lights-out pitching among the Crosscutters' arms, Williamsport took a 7-3 win at Bowman Field to complete a sweep -- and season series win -- of State College.

"It's a good group. Again, we gel well together. We try as coaches to put together a good atmosphere and let them have fun with it, teach the game the right way and play the game hard," Williamsport manager Jesse Litsch said. "Good things happen when you're playing the game the right way."

The Crosscutters (5-0) put up a four-hit, three-run bottom of the second inning to create an early advantage. Daniel Harris led off the frame with a double on the very first pitch before stealing third base and coming home on a balk for the initial run.

EJ Taylor (2 for 3, two RBIs) and Jake Urena (2 for 4) then recorded back-to-back base hits to put two runners on with no outs for Williamsport. Bryant Diel drove in Taylor on a single, but an error on the play advanced the runners further.

Nemo Wright forced in Urena on a hard-hit ground ball for just the first out of the inning. Another Spikes (2-4) error put runners on the corners before State College could pull out of the frame.

"We had a talk before the game about having good approaches at the dish, stop getting beat away," Litsch said. "We've been getting beat away the last couple games and start thinking about the opposite field. They turned out pretty hot in the beginning. And late in the game too, we had a couple hits the other way too ... We had a good talk prior. We had a good game plan."

Harris recorded his second double of the night in the following inning to advance both him and Chris Swanberg into scoring position with no outs. Taylor then drove both of them in with a hit to center to take a five-run lead.

"Boys were just ready to play today," Harris said. "We went off, we did really good. We had to bounce back from yesterday."

On the night, the Crosscutters unloaded 11 hits as opposed to seven from the Spikes. The game prior, they put up a two-hit win. Harris provided a bulk of Wednesday's production, going 3 for 4 at the plate with all three of his hits being doubles.

"I was just trying to go out there and hit the ball hard. It just happened to work out today," Harris said.

State College's bats woke up in the fourth. Brock Reller led off with a 434-foot solo shot over the center wall to cut it to a four-run game. It was Reller's first homer as a State College Spike, as well as State College's 27th long ball of the summer. Marques Paige hit an RBI double in the top of the ninth before a wild pitch brought in another.

First baseman Rafael Ramirez III added a one-out single in the frame after a walk to allow the Spikes a chance at chipping away further, but a flyout and grounder limited the damage for the Crosscutters.

Nick Meyer earned the win in his start after allowing just one run around four hits with seven strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Through the first five games of the half, Williamsport's pitchers have allowed just eight runs.

On Wednesday, the Crosscutters pieced together three straight 1-2-3 innings as well. As of late, Williamsport's pitching and fielding has been creating an abundance of room to allow its offense to get after it.

"They're going out there, throwing strikes and attacking hitters," Litsch said on the pitching. "Defense has been playing great. You throw the ball over the plate, hitters will get themselves out. They're gonna have days where they struggle a bit, but we're right back to it. It's a short season. The plan is to go out there and be competitive throughout."

Urena and Taylor Jackson added singles in the sixth inning. With two outs, second baseman Jesse Hall drove them both in with a double out to the center wall for some late insurance.

"Man, it's a completely different group, a completely different vibe," Harris, who was retained after the MLB Draft, said on the second-half roster. "It gets more pro ball. We just wanna win. Everybody's gotta do what they gotta do to win."

Starting at /week.