The Williamsport Crosscutters won their second MLB Draft League championship with a 5-3 victory over the Aberdeen IronBirds on Wednesday, Sept. 2. The title is Williamsport’s second in three years as the Crosscutters join the West Virginia Black Bears as the only tams with multiple championships.
Bobby Helt started on the mound for Williamsport and struck out six and allowed just one run in four innings work. Helt was one inning shy of earning his third victory this season (starters must complete five innings to be eligible for the win). Josh Willits was credited with the win after 3.2 innings relief work and Matthew Mariano earned the save.
The IronBirds took a 1-0 lead on an RBI-double in the second inning.
Williamsport answered in the bottom of the third with three runs on three hits. Nick Barone led off the inning with an infield single. The Crosscutters tried to get Barone into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, but IronBird’s pitcher Josh Milleville fielded the bunt cleanly and got the force at second. After Joey DeMucci got plunked by a sinker that got away from Milleville, Chris Stanfield stepped into the batter’s box with a golden opportunity to tie things up. Stanfield watched two strikes before pouncing on a 92-mph sinker up in the zone. DeCarlo scored the tying run on the Stanfield’s single to centerfield.
Then, Jack Kail smashed a two-run double down the right field line to give Williamsport a 3-1 lead.
The IronBirds cut the lead to one run in the sixth, but with the Crosscutters’ three, four and five hitters responded in the bottom half of the inning. James McCoy led off with a line drive single to right. Aberdeen put runners on first and second after another errant sinker by Milleville hit Matthew Williams. A couple batters later, with two outs and runners on second and third, Barone cashed in with a two-run single to centerfield. Barone didn’t waste any time in his trip to the plate, jumping on a four-seam fastball on the inside half of the plate.
Aberdeen managed to scratch out another run in the eighth. Williamsport was able to get out of the inning without taking any more damage and held on through the ninth for the 5-3 victory. The final out of the game came on a grounder to third baseman Nick Romano, who flipped the ball to second for a force out as the crowd erupted in cheers.
In an interview with WNEP after the game, Crosscutters’ manager Kenny Thomas said, “You have to credit these players. They played so hard and that’s all we ever ask of them is to play hard every day. Respect the game and play hard.”