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Cutters close out series against Scrappers with a 8-1 win

By Nicolas Severini 4 min read

The Williamsport Crosscutters secured their third three game sweep of the second half season Sunday afternoon, downing the rain soaked Mahoning Valley Scrappers 8-1 at Historic Bowman Field.

Powered by another fast start, the continuous rain on the day would not stop a 13 hit day for the Cutters en route to their fourth straight win.

"We had some good timely hits there," said Williamsport Crosscutter manager Kenny Thomas. "Our guys played hard, that is all we can ask."

For the second straight game, Williamsport would draw first blood to start the game. In the bottom of the first, a James McCoy reach by Fielder's Choice would put a runner on with two away. That would be all that cleanup hitter Matthew Williams would need, ripping a 108 mile per hour double to center field to score McCoy for the opening tally.

But Mahoning Valley would come up with the equalizer in the third inning, starting with a leadoff walk to Jordan Taylor. The eight hole hitter stole second base for Jayden Hylton, who got Taylor in on a ground ball that led to a fielding error by Williamsport third baseman Nicholas Romano.

Williamsport's response appeared just an inning later. After a leadoff bunt single from James McCoy, and one out Chris Stanfield walk would put two aboard for catcher Trey Wells. Continuing his blistering run of form, Wells would snipe the Cutters back in front when he laced a one run double down the left field line.

The Cutters would not be content with just a single run, loading the bases up after a Sam DeCarlo walk. With the bases juiced, Nick Barone would capitalize with a sliced single to center field that brought in Stanfield and Wells for a 4-1 game.

That hit would be what relieved Mahoning Valley starter Alexander Llinas. When the inning flipped, Liinas' line would read three and a third on an inning pitched with five runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Llinas' fifth allowed run came one pitch after he was relieved, with a Jake Zitella single bringing in Sam Decarlo for a 5-1 score after four.

Williamsport starter Evan Grimes would put in four innings of work off of four days rest, giving up one unearned run on a pair of hits with three walks and five strikeouts.

After touching home two times already in the game, three hole hitter James McCoy would become both the provider and the scorer on his own accord. Leading off the bottom of the fifth inning, McCoy turned an inside slider 351 feet into the visitors bullpen. McCoy's solo shot was his sixth home run of the season and increased Billtown's lead to a 6-1 margin.

After a pair of scoreless frames, the Cutters would receive two insurance runs in the eighth inning. With two in scoring position and one out, a wild pitch would score Jack Kail from third base. With McCoy going to third, he too would come in off of a sacrifice fly from Chris Stanfield.

The insurance would not be needed, with relievers Luc Lavigueur, Davin Pollard, and Brody Roe tossing five combined shutout innings that saw just four total hits and no walks with six combined strikeouts.

"I'm really trying to build confidence in the bullpen," echoed Thomas. "I've done a lot of thinking and rethinking trying to figure out how their roles match their ability. Those guys came in and did a really good job.

The sweep improves Williamsport to 19-14 on the second half season drawing level with the Aberdeen Ironbirds for first place in the MLB Draft League second half season. The Cutters will hit the road for their next 11 contests, starting with a two game set on Tuesday against their in-state rival State College Spikes.

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