Williamsport, P.A.- The Crosscutters saw their current rough stretch continue in their 8-1 loss to West Virginia, in an eventful opening game of the three-game series.
Manuel Silva got the start for the Cutters, trying to right the ship for Williamsport, and worked a scoreless top of the 1st, working around a Travis Swaggerty lead off single.
Williamsport got the offense going in the bottom of the 1st, using an infield single by Ben Aklinski to lead off the inning. Aklinski reached 2nd base on a throwing error and scored on the throw that nabbed Rafael Marchan trying to steal 2nd base, giving the Cutters a 1-0 lead. That would be the only run scored in the game for Williamsport.
Silva surrendered a lead off home run to Raul Siri in the top of the 2nd inning, tying the game at 1-1 on the first home run allowed by Siri this season. The BlackBears took advantage of three-straight Silva walks, to plate the go-ahead run as Travis Swaggerty drew the walk to plate Conner Kaiser to make it 2-1.
Siri got Sliva again in the top of the 3rd inning, dropping a solo home run just over the wall into the BlackBears bullpen to make it 3-1.
Madison Stokes led off the 4th inning with a walk, but was retired at home, trying to score on an Edwin Rodriguezdouble to left. Stokes ran through a stop sign at 3rd, and was tagged out while leaping over West Virginia catcherZach Susi.
Silva allowed three runs on four hits and four walks while striking out four over 4.2 innings of work.
Rafael Carvajal entered with a runner on first and two outs in the 5th, striking out the only batter that he faced in the frame. Carvajal finished the night with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief, striking out two.
The Cutters threatened again in the bottom of the 6th inning, getting runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out, but failed to score a run, as Seth Lancaster struckout swinging to end the frame.
After the strikeout ended the inning, Lancaster exchanged words with the West Virginia dugout, which resulted in both dugouts and bullpens emptying as the teams came together on the 3rd base side of home plate.
Words and gestures were exchanged, which led to players and coaches having to be restrained from one another. No ejections resulted in the get together, but tensions were high the rest of the way.
After West Virginia plated a run in the top of the 7th inning, making it 4-1, the BlackBears ripped the game wide open against the Cutters bullpen. The BlackBears worked the bases loaded on two walks and a hit batter with one out against Austin Ross, who was lifted for Abdallah Aris.
Aris got the first batter he faced to pop out for the 2nd out, but after a lengthy battle, Mike Gretler cleared the bases with a double to left-center making it 7-1 in the top of the 8th inning. All three runs were charged to Ross.
The BlackBears added a run in the top of the 9th inning on a sacrifice fly making it 8-1.
Williamsport had two runners reach in the bottom of the 9th, failing to score a run as they saw their current losing streak run to four-straight games.
The Crosscutters continue their three-game series against the West Virginia Balck Bears tomorrow night at BB&T Ballpark, with first pitch scheduled at 7:05 p.m.
Cutter Carvings – The Crosscutters had one extra base hit, a double from Edwin Rodriguez in his first game back in Williamsport… The Crosscutters have been outscored 30-12 in the first four games of this six-game homestand…Williamsport has surrendered five home runs over their last two games…
