Williamsport 8, Brooklyn 6
The Cyclones fell behind early, and their late-inning rally came up short as they fell to the Williamsport Crosscutters, 8-6 on Wednesday evening. Tomas Nido had three RBI, including his first home run of the season in the losing effort.
After getting shutout for the sixth time this season on Tuesday night, the Cyclones wasted little time getting on the scoreboard on Wednesday. Jared King led off the top of the second inning with a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly from Alex Sanchez as the Cyclones took an early 1-0 lead.
Brooklyn’s advantage was short lived however because in the bottom of the frame, Williamsport would draw even. Zach Green started the threat with a single to centerfield and stole second base to moving into scoring position before Dylan Cozens doubled to right field, chasing Green home and tying the score at 1-1.
Cyclones starter LHP Dario Alvarez was able to wiggle out of further damage in the second, but ran into more trouble in the third, and would see his night come to a close. After retiring the first two batters in the third inning, the southpaw allowed back-to-back singles to Sam Dove and Andrew Knapp before Zach Green cleared the bags with a three-run blast, his sixth of the season.
RHP Dawrin Frias relieved Alvarez in the fourth inning and the ‘Cutters picked up right where they left off, scoring three more runs – including a solo blast from Samuel Hiciano – to extend their lead to 7-1 after four innings
In the fifth, the Cyclones would slice into the ‘Cutters lead thanks to a two-run blast from Brooklyn catcher Tomas Nido, his first of the season, that made it 7-3.
Williamsport tacked on an insurance run in the seventh inning to push their advantage to 8-3, which would prove to be important, as the Cyclones mounted a late inning rally.
In the eighth inning, a pair of doubles – including an RBI two-bagger from L.J. Mazzilli, and a fielding error by Williamsport second baseman Sam Dove led to two runs and trimmed the Williamsport lead to 8-5 heading into the ninth. The Brooklyn bats continued their rally in the last inning, when James Roche doubled before Tomas Nido pushed him home with an RBI single, his third RBI of the evening, to make it 8-6. That is how the game would end however, as Ismael Tijerina and Patrick Biondi were both retired when they came to the plate as the tying run.
The Cyclones will look to salvage the series finale tomorrow night when they send RHPRob Gsellman to the mound. Game time is set for 7:05 PM.
Key Stats
Dario Alvarez: 3.0 IP, 5 H, 1 HR, 0 BB, 4 ER, 2 K
Darwin Frias: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 4 ER, 9 K
Tim Peterson: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K
Tomas Nido: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R
Gavin Cecchini: 1-for-4, 1 RBI
Alex Sanchez: 1-for-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 R
Jared King: 1-for-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 R, 1 SB
(Team Report)