Williamsport, P.A.- The Crosscutters plated three runs in the bottom of the 8th inning, but fell to Tri-City 5-3 in the middle game of the series.
Ethan Lindow entered the start for Williamsport looking for his first decision and his first win of the season and got of to a great start, striking out the side in the top of the 1st inning.
Williamsport’s offense looked to pick up where they left off from a night ago, but where stymied in the bottom of the 1st inning, getting retired on three flyballs against ValleyCats starter Shawn Dubin.
After working around a walk and a single in the top of the 2nd inning, former Crosscutter Luis Encarnaciondrilled a solo home run on the first pitch he saw from Lindow to open up the 3rd inning and open up the scoring, giving Tri-City a 1-0 lead on the first home run allowed by Lindow this season.
Tri-City added on to their lead in the top of the 4th inning, getting a RBI double from Austin Dennis to scoreJeremy Pena, advancing the ValleyCats advantage to 2-0.
Lindow was relieved by Austin Ross in the top of the 6th inning, allowing two runs on five hits and three walks, while striking out a season-high nine batters.
Ross ran into trouble in the 6th inning, allowing the first four batters to reach base, and add on to their lead in the process.
Austin Dennis recorded his 2nd RBI of the night with a single that scored Pena to give the ValleyCats a 3-0 lead and then Carlos Machado capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Alex McKenna making in a 4-0 lead.
Abdallah Aris entered in the top of the 7th inning, after Ross allowed two runs on two hits and three walks, striking out one over an inning of work.
Aris retired the first two batters of the 7th inning, but allowed a walk to Pena, which was followed by a triple from McKenna to plate Pena and give Tri-City a 5-0 lead.
Williamsport’s bats came to life in the bottom of the 8th inning, getting back-to-back singles with one out fromJonathan Guzman and Ben Aklinski to put Cutters on the corners for Madison Stokes.
Stokes stroked a Mark Monclair offering into the right field corner for a two-run triple, scoring Guzman and Aklinski to make it a 5-2 deficit. It was Stokes first triple and first two RBI since joining the Cutters yesterday.
Jesus Henriquez plated Stokes with a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-3 game, on Henriquez’s 7th RBI of the season.
The Crosscutters left the tying run standing on 1st base in the frame, ending their only true threat of the night.
In the top of the 9th inning, Aris found himself in trouble, being relieved with the bases loaded and one out byJose Jimenez. Jimenez retired both batters that he faced, keeping the deficit at 5-3.
Williamsport went down in order in the bottom of the 9th inning, having their rally efforts come up short.
The Crosscutters conclude their series against Tri-City tomorrow night at BB&T Ballpark, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Cutter Carvings – The Cutters pitching allowed a season-high 10 walks in the losing effort… No Cutter recorded a multi-hit game, with four different Cutters recording a single hit…Ben Aklinski has recorded a hit in all five games he has played in in Williamsport…
