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Crosscutters have knack for getting most out of hits
The Scrappers have dropped their last two while the Cutters are riding high with eight straight wins.
WILLIAMSPORT — The Williamsport Crosscutters produced only three hits in their series opener with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers Saturday night.
But two of them left the ballpark as the Crosscutters made the most of their long balls to post a 3-0 shutout over the Scrappers before 1,846 fans at Bowman Field.
“I haven’t seen one yet,” said Scrapper manager Travis Fryman about winning a game without scoring a run. “You have to score to win and we gave up three hits and they scored three runs.”
After winning four in a row, the Scrappers have dropped their last two while the Cutters are riding a high with eight straight wins.
“Things are going real well for us right now,” Cutters manager Dusty Wathan said. “Our starting pitching has been tremendous, our bullpen has been real strong and right now we are getting the hits when we need them.
“We didn’t have a lot of hits tonight, but we hit the ball hard and that is a good sign.”
The Cutters wasted no time jumping on top as with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Travis d’Arnaud took a P.J. Zocchi fastball and lined it over the center-field fence, just to the left of the 405-foot sign.
Although Zocchi was tagged with the loss, he allowed only two hits, both home runs.
“That has been his nemesis all season long,” Fryman said. “He has given up some home runs this year and that has really hurt him. When he makes a bad pitch, he seems to get hurt in a big way.”
After Cutters pitcher Tyler Cloyd retired the first six men to face him, Isaias Valesquez and Corteze Armstrong sandwiched singles around a fielder’s choice by Donnie Webb. For Armstrong, his single snapped an 0-for-27 streak.
However, the Scrappers were kept off the board when Cloyd coaxed Ryan Blair to line into a double play to third, with Velasquez doubled off second.
Ahead 1-0 in the fourth inning, the Cutters quickly made it 3-0 as Cody Overbeck worked a 4-pitch walk from Zocchi and Steve Susdorf followed with a long home run to right field.
Still hanging around while facing the 3-0 deficit, the Scrappers allowed four scoring opportunities to slip through their fingers.
In the third, fourth and sixth innings, Mahoning Valley had runners on first and second with one out. But in each case, the Scrappers couldn’t come up with the key hit as they failed to score.
In the eighth frame, they had the bases loaded with two outs but couldn’t score.
“Our situational hitting to this point has been OK, but runners in scoring position hasn’t been real strong for us,” Fryman said. “We do a pretty good job with guys on third [base] with less than two outs and a fair job with runners on second and no outs, but we haven’t had anybody who just steps up and drives in runs.
“We were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position yesterday [in a 4-3 loss to Lowell] and I haven’t seen tonight’s numbers but they weren’t real impressive either,” Fryman said.
Picking up the win for the Cutters was Cloyd, while B.J. Rosenberg picked up his fifth save.
The two teams will play the second of three in the series tonight with a first pitch set for 7:05.
The Scrappers will hand the ball to Eric Berger (1-0, 2.70) while the Cutters will counter with Justin DeFratus (2-1, 2.66)
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SCRAPPERSWILLIAMSPORT
abrhbiabrhbi
Blair rf4000Haislet rf4000
Chisenhall ss4020Myers cf4010
Simpson 1b4020D’Arnaud c3111
Tice dh2000Overbeck 3b3100
J. Valdes cf4000Susdorf lf 3112
Pickens c4000Hamilton 1b3000Velasquez 2b4010Hanzawa ss2000
Webb dh4000Thomas dh3000
Armstrong lf2010Frew 2b3000
Totals32060Totals28343
Scrappers000000000—0
Williamsport10020000x—3
E—Velasquez (7). DP—Scrappers 2, Lowell 0. LOB—Scrappers 8, Williamsport 4. 2B—Myers (4). HR—D’Arnaud (2), Susdorf (3). SB—Chisenhall (4).
IPHRERBBSO
Scrappers
Zocchi L, 2-2523321
A. Martinez200001
Hinkle110013
Williamsport
Cloyd W, 2-0530015
Noles120002
Vartanian100001
Rosenberg S, 5210023
WP—Rosenberg 2. Umpires—Home, Joseph Born; Bases, Shea Gipson. T—2:07. A—1,846.
HOW THEY SCORED
Williamsport 1st—Haislet lines out (LO-4). D’Arby Myers grounds out (4-3). D’Arnaud homers to center. Overbeck grounds out (5-3). 1 run, 1 hit, 0 errors, 0 LOB.
Williamsport 4th—D’Arnaud grounds out (5-3). Overbeck walks. Susdorf homers to right, Overbeck scores. Hamilton flies out (F-9). Hanzawa walks. Thomas flies out (F-9). 2 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.