Williamsport, P.A. – After unveiling their 2015 Pinckney Division Championship trophy, the Williamsport Crosscutters opened their 2016 campaign with a 4-1 win against the State College Spikes in front of a packed BB&T Ballpark in Williamsport.
Second-year Crosscutters manager, Pat Borders, gave the nod to right-handed pitcher Adonis Medina for the Opening Night start. Medina would respond by pitching six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits while walking two and picking up a strikeout in his first win as a Crosscutter.
Williamsport would back their starter by plating a trio of runs in the bottom of the third inning, capitalizing on a pair of Spikes errors in the frame. Jose Antequera started the scoring for the Cutters by driving home Juan Luis with a single into right-center to give the Cutters their first lead of 2016. Luis Encarnacion would later reach on a force attempt that allowed Jesus Alastre to score making the Cutters lead 2-0. The scoring would be capped off by a RBI ground out by Arquimedez Gamboa that would score Antequera and make it 3-0 after 3 innings of play.
The Cutters would add on in the bottom half of the 6th inning, using a one-out double by Enmanuel Garcia to spark the rally. Garcia would be driven home by a two-out single by Jesus Alastre to give the Cutters a 4-0 lead heading to the 7th.
The Cutters would make the call to the bullpen in the 7th inning after Medina allowed the fist two batters of the inning to reach. Left-hander Jeff Singer would retire the three batters he would face in the inning, stranding the two Spikes runners that he inherited in the frame.
Singer would work a clean 8th inning, giving him back-to-back perfect innings of relief in his Crosscutters debut, finishing with three strikeouts of the six total batters that he faced.
Kenny Koplove would enter to pitch the 9th for Williamsport, but State College would not go quietly however,as they would use back-to-back two-out doubles from Ricardo Bautista and Bladimil Franco to cut the Cutters lead to 4-1. Koplove would retire the next batter to seal the win for the Cutters.
The Crosscutters hit the road to take on the State College Spikes tomorrow night at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park in State College, Pa., first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Southpaw, Ranger Suarez is schedule to start for the Crosscutters as right-handed Carson Cross is slated to start for the Spikes.
Cutter Carvings – The Crosscutters will be on the road for the next four games, visiting State College tomorrow night before heading to Lowell, Massachusetts for a three-game set with the Spinners…The Cutters next home game will be June 22nd as they play host to the Mahoning Valley Scrappers…
