Draft League: From the Bottom to the Bigs!

[jksander]

May 28, 2025: My name is Archie Hinton, and at age 25 I’ve been named the new manager for the MLB Draft League’s Williamsport Crosscutters! We’re not even officially a “minor league” team. Instead, we exist as six team in the northeast which, from June through August, play 60 games apiece with rosters built of the best young talent the major league draft will soon have to offer! Our roster is finalized as of this morning, and we’ll hopefully be able to win the league with our talented group of college-aged players who are looking to find their place in the majors.

The five other teams in the league are:

Trenton Thunder
West Virginia Black Bears
Mahoning Valley Scrappers
State College Spikes
Frederick Keys

Each team has a roster of 30 players, and after the draft takes place in early July, any players who are drafted will remain “on loan” with us until the regular season and playoffs conclude. And then next year we do it all again!

I’n excited to have the opportunity to help develop these players as they make the jump from college to the pros. And hopefully if I can pay my dues at this level and do the job well enough, I’ll get noticed for a spot with a big league team’s farm system so I can work my way up the ladder.

Here is our roster for the upcoming season, which begins on June 3 ... the season will end August 11, and the league playoffs will take place on August 13.

Lineup
C - R Brody Donay, 21 -- Junior, University of Florida
1B - L Todd Hudson, 21 -- Liberty University
2B - R Henry Godbout, 21 -- Junior, University of Virginia
3B - R Eli Lopez, 20 -- Junior, Cal State Fullerton
SS - R Clay Grady, 21 -- Junior, Virginia Tech
LF - R Tyler Albright, 21 -- Junior, Duke University
CF - R Vince Fattore, 21 -- Junior, Elon University
RF - L Trevor Cohen, 21 -- Junior, Rutgers University
DH -- R Alex Lodise, 21 -- Junior, Florida State University

Bench
C - L Dalton Bargo, 21 -- Junior, University of Tennessee
2B - R Jayden Davis, 20 -- Junior, Vanderbilt University
2B - R Drew Smith, 21 -- Junior, University of Oregon
SS - R Cade Campbell, 21 -- Junior, University of California
CF - L Jason Avila, 21 -- Junior, Florida State University

Starters
R Cam Leiter, 21 -- Junior, Florida State University
R Matthew Hoskins, 21 -- Junior, University of Georgia
L Evan Blanco, 21 -- Junior, University of Virginia
R Ben Barrett, 21 -- Junior, Florida State University
R J.T. Quinn, 21 -- Junior, Ole Miss
L A.J. Colarusso, 21 -- Junior, Boston College

Bullpen
L James Tallon, 21 -- Junior, Duke University
L Ben Abeldt, 21 -- Junior, Texas Christian University
R Derrick Smith, 21 -- Junior, North Carolina State University
L Liam Doyle, 20 -- Junior, Ole Miss
R Jaden Stockton, 21 -- Junior, Florida State University
R J.J. Garcia, 22 -- Junior, University of Tennessee
R Brady Jones, 20 -- Junior, Georgia State University
L Grant Richardson, 21 -- Grand Canyon University
L T.R. Williams, 22 -- Redshirt Junior, James Madison University
R Brandon Gonsalves, 21 -- Junior, University of Central Florida

[jksander]

June 3, 2025: We’re opening the season with a trio of road games against the Trenton Thunder, and our first game of the year turned into a duel between our ace Cam Leiter and their ace Chase Shores, both of whom look to go high in this year’s draft. Trenton broke through in the bottom of the fourth with a homer by Damien Bravo, and Leiter pitched one out into the fifth before we went to the bullpen, with him at six strikeouts and 62 pitches. We went into the top of the sixth trailing by two runs, but we loaded the bases without an out, and with one out Todd Hudson hit a grand slam to rocket us into the lead 4-2! They got a run back in the bottom of the eighth off a homer by Keegan Knutson, so James Tallon came out to close in the ninth with just a one run lead. He ended it quickly with a pop-out, a ground-out and a strikeout as we held on to win 4-3. Grant Richardson got the win, pitching 1.2 innings with two hits, a walk and four strikeouts, and Tallon earned a save. Plenty of power pitching was seen, with Trenton notching 17 strikeouts against our 12. They out hit us 8-7, with Hudson’s grand salami and its requisite four RBIs was the tops for the game.

June 4, 2025: This one was a real pitching duel, with nobody scoring until Vince Fattore hit a solo homer out of left for us in the top of the fifth to go up 1-0! Both pitchers were on their A-game, but none moreso than ours, Matthew Hoskins, who didn’t even allow a baserunner until the bottom of the fifth when Keegan Knutson hit a single into center for the Thunder. We added on with a solo bomb out of right by leadoff hitter Trevor Cohen in the sixth, and Tyler Albright hit one to the same spot just minues later to make it a 3-0 lead. We had good power tonight, with Henry Godbout joining the homer parade in the top of the eighth, but they loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and still had a chance. We were able to get the final out, however, and shtu them out 4-0 with four pitchers sharing in the moment. Hoskins got the win, allowing two hits and a walk with five strikeouts in his 5.2 innings, throwing 68 pitches, and shortstop Alex Lodise, though he didn’t homer or score at all, got three hits to lead the team. He’s hitting .625 so far through two games.

June 5, 2025: We loaded the bases in the top of the sixth in what had become another duel between draft-ready pitchers. Alas, we didn’t get anyone to score, and went into the bottom of the inning locked in a 0-0 dogfight. But our pitcher, Evan Blanco, was literally perfect through six frames, a remarkably efficient performance, but with one out in the seventh his luck turned and Trenton got on the board with a solo homer by Andrew Schuldt ... 1-0, home team. That was their first ANYTHING of the evening! They went back to back, with Damien Bravo hitting one out of right moments later, but Blanco finished the inning sending us into the eighth trailing by a pair. It just wasn’t our night, and Trenton wound up winning 2-0, keeping us from the opening series sweep. Blanco pitched seven innings with two hits, four strikeouts and two earned runs, taking the loss but putting up a respectable 2.57 ERA. We outhit them 6-2, but stranded every single runner, including a pair who reached via walks. Lodise, our DH, had a rough night, getting one hit but striking out three times.

[jksander]

June 7, 2025: We remain on the road, this time traveling to play three against the 2-1 State College Spikes. Our starter this afternoon, Ben Barrett, struck out four in the first two innings, but had a rough third, allowing a run to score off a single into right, putting runners on the corners as he neared 40 pitches. A high fly hit off the bat of their shortstop Luke Hanson drove in another, but we got out of that inning without further damage. We tied it up in the top of the fourth with a two-run blast by Lodise, his first homer of the year, That bought Barrett a little extra grace to stay out in the fourth, and he delivered with a pop-out and two K’s, notching another pair in the fifth as we stayed tied at two. “K” was the letter of the day, as both teams’ pitchers were throwing heat all night, which led to this one going into extra inings. Finally, in the top of the 12th inning, Henry Godbout hit a solo homer over the left field wall to put us up 3-2, his second homer of this season! We held on from there to win the game, our no. 5 starter J.T. Quinn getting the win with two innings of solid play, three hits, three K’s on 33 pitches. All totalled, we had 24 K’s against 14 for the Spikes ... with our starter, Barrett, finishing with five hits, 10 K’s and two earned runs through his 5.1 innings of action. We outhit them 9-8, led by Godbout, who had three hits, two runs and another batted in. All told, I’d say the 800 or so fans who showed up today got great game for their money, though they certainly were disappointed that the home team didn’t pull it out in the end.

June 8, 2025: Cam Leiter made his second start of the season for us tonight, and he was pitching with a lead from the fourth inning on, as Trevor Cohen hit a solo homer out of right, his second of the year, to put us up 1-0 in the top of the inning. He and Christian Fouch dueled it out all night, and though Foutch threw more fiery K’s, Leiter was significantly more efficient. They went to the pen with one out in the top of the seventh, but Lieter stayed out there through the seventh, our team adding on with a homer by Vince Fattore to extend it to 2-0 in the top of the eighth. Todd Hudson took it back to back to put us up by three, giving us a solid advantage late in the game. Incredibly, Leiter struck out the side in the bottom of the frame, and Clay Grady piled on with a two-run blast in the top of the ninth to put this one out of reach. Brandon Gonsalves took over for Leiter in the ninth, the starter having thrown 84 pitches, and he ended the game with a pair of K’s and a pop-out to center as we spiked State College 5-0. Leiter improved to 1-0 with a 1.46 ERA, pitching eight innings with two hits, a walk and eight strikeouts, while we picked up five hits -- Clay Grady’s two-run homer won the night, as five players each hit; catcher Brody Donay was our only player to get on base twice, hitting once and walking once with a run scored.
 
June 9, 2025: State College got off to a quick start with a solo homer in the bottom of the first by Luke Hanson, But we tied it in the top of the third with a homer by Todd Hudson, giving him his third of the season, so this one was anyone’s ballgame early. Clay Grady hit a two-run blast out of left in the top of the fourth to give us the lead, but they answered with a run off a groundout by Jackson Lovich, so the game was still close heading into the fifth. Godbout bought us an insurance run with a homer in the top of the ninth, his third of the year, and Tallon came out to close in the bottom of the inning as we completed the sweep with a 4-2 win! Matthew Hoskins improved to 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA thanks to five innings with two hits, two walks, six K’s and two earned runs -- Jaden Stockton, Brady Jones and B en Abeldt each had holds (Jones with his second!) and Tallon saved his second game as all four relievers have yet to concede a single run. We outhit State College 10-4, led by Vince Fattore with two hits and a run scored.

[jksander]

June 10, 2025: We’re alone in the lead by a game over the Frederick Keys and the Trenton Thunder, heading into our first home series against the 2-4 Mahoning Valley Scrappers, who just handed Frederick its first loss of the year with a 6-4 road win. Godbout got us the lead in the bottom of the first with a solo homer out of left, and he did it again in the third with a two-run blast pretty much to the same location ... 3-0 lead! The Scrappers loaded the bases on two outs in the top of the fourth, but our pitcher got out of the jam and into the bottom of the frame without giving up the shutout lead. We added on with another two-run blast in the fifth, this one by Alex Lodise with Godbout scoring from first, and we loaded the bags in the bottom of the sixth, though nobody would score off it. They got testy in the bottom of the eighth, hitting Godbout with a pitch to put him on first as our leadoff htiter, getting him out on a subsequent double play as they kept us from adding to the carnage. But J.J. Garcia shut them down convincingly in the ninth and we added another 5-0 shutout to our tally! Grant Richardson picked up his second win, improving to 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA now through 3.2 innings in relief ... tonight he struck out two without a hit in two innings of work. We outhit Mahoning Valley 12-8, led by a 4-4 hitting performance from Henry Godbout, as he racked up three runs and three RBIs. He had an OPS of .998 while in college, but the University of Virginia junior is currently slugging .933 with an OPS of 1.371 through his first seven games of this season ... which should start raising his draft profile significantly!

June 11, 2025: J.T. Quinn made his first actual start for us after his two-inning win in extra innings last week. Phillip Ard gave Mahoning Valley a 1-0 lead in the top of the second with his first homer of the season, but Lodise hit an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth for us to tie the score at 1-1! Quinn got through five innings before being replaced by Liam Doyle at the start of the sixth, at which point the bullpen picked up where he left off ... in the bottom of the ninth, still tied 1-1, Godbout and Lodise picked up back-to-back singles, and with no outs, Brody Donay walked it off with a three-run homer to give us a stunning 4-1 win! Derrick Smith, our third pitcher of the night, got the win with two hits and two strikeouts in the top of the ninth, but Quinn (five innings, one hit, one walk, seven K’s) and Doyle (three innings, no hits, one walk, three strikeouts) laid the groundwork for him. We outhit them 7-3 in the duel, led by Donay with two hits, a run and three RBIs, while Lodise added two hits, a run and an RBI.

We’re eight games into the season, and right now our bullpen is absolutely insane ... all our pitching, in fact, as our starters have a 1.81 ERA (tied for first) and our bullpen has an incredible 0.31 ERA. We lead the six-team lead in every pitching or defensive stat, and though we’re only hitting .233 (3rd) we lead the league in on base percentage (.303), extra base hits (23) and are second in home runs with 18. Not a bad start by any stretch!

June 12, 2025: This game was another knock-down drag-out fight, knotted up with no score after six innings, with Ben Barrett having a career night already. He got us into the stretch with Mahoning Valley still scoreless, and we came to life in the bottom of the inning, putting runners on the corners with two outs and our leadoff man Cohen coming to the plate. But he popped out harmlessly to second and the inning ended with the game still scoreless, just seven hits between our two teams as Ben Abeldt started warming up. Abeldt came out to take the ball from Barrett with two outs in the eighth, our young starter having thrown 98 pitches, striking out 13 batters with just four hits against him, but he was denied a chance at the win. Finally we broke through in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by Clay Grady, giving us a one-run advantage, and Vince Fattore doubled over the wall left of center, the ground-rule hit driving in two more! Abeldt struck out two in the ninth to seal the deal as we notched another shutout win, 3-0. That gave Abeldt, who pitched 1.1 innings with a walk and two K’s, his first win of the year. Barrett, meanwhile, didn’t get the victory, but he’s now pitched 13 innings in his first two starts with just nine hits against him while striking out 23 with NO walks! We outhit the Scrappers 6-4, led by Grady who had two hits, a run and an RBI.

[jksander]

June 14, 2025: This weekend we’ll put our 8-1 record up against the Frederick Keys, who come into the three-game series with a 4-5 record, having gone 4-2 on their field and 0-3 while on the road. Cam Leiter made his third start of the season, We took the lead with a solo homer by Tyler Albright, his second of the year, in the bottom of the first inning -- but they tied us in the top of the third with an RBI single from catcher Mac Rose, and in the top of the seventh they took the lead off a single by first baseman Ed Figueroa -- an unearned run, as Matthew Mateo scored after first reaching base on an E4 groundball error. We tied it up in the bottom of the ninth when Alex Lodise hit a single into right, Godbout scoring off an E8 error with Lodise taking second. But we did not score again, and this one went into extra innings tied up at 2-2. Our closer James Tallon gave up the go-ahead run via homer in the top of the 13th, after getting one out in the inning, but we limited the damage ... and in the bottom of the inning, with two outs, we tied it again off a sac-fly by Trevor Cohen! Jaden Stockton got his third out of the game, and the first of the 14th inning, via strikeout but his night ended there as he had to leave the game with an undisclosed injury. The game continued onward, as nobody could break this stalemate. T.R. Williams took over in the top of the 16th, our ninth pitcher of the afternoon, shutting them down quickly three in a row, but we left the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning when Clay Grady popped out to center ... unbelievable! Williams kept them from scoring in the 17th, and with the score unchanged we brought out our 10th pitcher, Liam Doyle, who threw 34 pitches and three innings of work three days ago. The game broke the six hour mark in the top of the 19th, and Frederick got two runners on in the 20th, but none managed to score. We brought out our final bullpen arm, Grant Richardson, in the top of the 21st as all involved were praying for an end to this one. Frederick loaded the bags in the top of the inning and left them all stranded with a strikeout ... and the game continued until, top of the 23rd and out of relievers, we brought out Jason Avila, our backup center fielder, to pitch the remainder. He immediately gave up a solo homer to Cooper Whitton, but he pitched around runners on second and third to get us into the bottom of the inning just trailing by the one run. We got a runner onto third base with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but the game ended there as Vince Fattore struck out swinging at 9:10 p.m.

All told, 21 pitchers took the mound today, including 12 for us counting the use of a position player to end the game once and for all. Avila took the loss, of course, with three hits and a run in the top of the 23rd. Cam Leiter had started us out with six innings and three hits, striking out seven with one earned run, and I’ll have to wonder if things would have gone differently if I’d let him go into the seventh ... he’d only thrown 75 pitches. The bullpen wound up throwing 252 of them, and Frederick outhit us 17-13 during the course of the eight hour game. Tyler Albright led our team, hitting three times with a run and an RBI while batting TEN TIMES. We struck out 31 of their batters while they only fanned 23 of ours.

Hell of a way to lose a six-game winning streak, but play on ...

June 15, 2025: Reliever Jaden Stockton’s injury is still being evaluated as we head into game two of three against Frederick. Today’s game started at 3:05 as we all tried to recover from yesterday’s marathon, and this time we wasted no effort in getting the lead -- with one out in the bottom of the second, Todd Hudson hit a grand slam out of right to put us up 4-0, his fourth homer of the season! But they loaded the bases in the top of the third, walking in a run to get on the board ... thankfully we were able to get back to back strikeouts and maintain the lead. J.J. Garcia took the ball in the sixth inning with the lead still 4-1, and Eddie Lopez hit a three-run homer to add on in the bottom of the inning, his first of the year. A.J. Colarusso came out to pitch in the eighth with a six-run lead, his first appearance of the season, giving up a solo homer to his first batter faced, but we walked in a run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning to get it back ... he’d stay in and shut them down in the ninth as we won big 8-2! Matthew Hoskins got the win, improving to 3-0 with a 1.72 ERA, allowing six hits, a walk and a run while striking out nine in five innings. Garcia got a hold, and Colarusso pitched two innings with three hits, two strikeouts and an earned run. We outhit them 11-10, with Hudson and Lopez, our eighth and ninth in the batting order, combining for three hits, three walks, three runs and seven RBIs.

Jaden Stockton has a strained forearm, and will be day to day for two weeks at the least. But it’s nothing that should greatly affect his draft chances.
 
June 16, 2025: It’s time for the rubber match against Frederick, and the Keys got off to a hot start in the first, scoring off a double by shortstop Lukas Lawrence to take the lead 1-0 midway through the inning. But that was it for scoring for a long time after, for either team, as we would go into the seventh inning stretch with the Keys still leading by the same one run. Several times we got into scoring position and left runners stranded, but our pitching kept us in it ... Liam Doyle, in particular, striking out the side in the top of the ninth to give him 2.2 hitless innings to keep us within a lone run of tying this game despite minimal offensive energy all day. In the bottom of the ninth with one out Clay Grady hit a single into center, but that was all we had in us ... Frederick won 1-0 to take the series two games to one, our first series loss of the season, their team outhitting us 9-7 and basically winning it for themselves in the first half inning. Evan Blanco had 6.1 innings with nine hits, a walk, five strikeouts and one earned run, falling to 0-2 despite a 1.53 ERA through three starts. Doyle was even better, striking out four batters while facing down eight of them, improving his ERA to 0.84 through 10.2 innings in five appearances. Cohen, Albright and Grady each hit twice, but we couldn’t string them together and fell to 9-3 as a result, cutting our lead in the league to one game over the 8-4 Trenton Thunder.

[jksander]

June 17, 2025: In the top of the second in our first game of three against Mahoning Valley we loaded the bases and walked in a run thanks to Eli Lopez, giving us a 1-0 lead after being shut out yesterday afternoon. Henry Godbout helped add on with a solo homer in the top of the third, his sixth of the season, but they got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single by their right fielder with the bases loaded and two outs. With our bats unable to add on any insurance late, it fell to our pitching once again to keep this game in our control. Liam Doyle came out to pitch in the ninth still leading 2-1, and he struck out their leadoff man Luke Dickerson but was visibly frustrated when Dickerson took first off a strike three wild pitch. With one out they loaded the bags, but Doyle did his job and got the next two batters out to save the 2-1 win, his first save of the year. J.T. Quinn got the win and improved to 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA, pitching five innings with four hits, two walks, five K’s and one earned run, but they outhit us 7-6. Goodbout led the way with two hits, a run and an RBI.

June 18, 2025: Game two against Mahoning Valley started out with strikeouts reigning supreme ... ten K’s between our two teams in the first three shutout innings alone. But in the top of the fifth we got three hits, including the three-run homer by Todd Hudson (his fifth!) that broke the game wide open. Henry Godbout hit a solo blast out of right in the sixth to add on with his seventh of the season, and we piled on in the seventh with a three-run blast by Hudson, his second of the GAME, and they had absolutely no answer for us. After batting around in the inning, we entered the break with an 8-0 lead, but they did finally get on the board in the eighth -- Murf Gray hit a single into right to blow the shutout. But we limited the damage to the one run, shutting them down with ease by an 8-1 margin. Ben Barrett got his first win, improving to 1-0 with an 0.95 ERA after going six innings tonight with two hits and six strikeouts. We outhit them 10-5, with Hudson and his two homers for six runs batted in, dominated on offense. Incredibly, he’s still hitting just .196, but he has a .518 slugging percentage, a .755 OPS and 16 RBIs, so he’s doing just fine.

June 19, 2025: Cam Leiter pitched for us tonight, his fourth start of the season, and his luck ran out in the bottom of the first when Caiden Huber hit a two-run blast out of right to give Mahoning Valley a 2-0 lead on two outs. Their fans, frustrated by us “running up the score” yesterday, seemed surprisingly to think a two-run lead was enough, so when two runs scored for us with one out in the top of the fourth, the jeers were louder than they otherwise would have been ... but we were just playing the way we play. Clay Grady promptly delivered a two-run homer out of center to give us a 4-2 lead, and there wasn’t a thing the fans, or the players, for Mahoning could do or say. Leiter loaded the bags in the bottom of the inning but got out of it with two quick strikeouts like it was no bother at all. Tyler Albright, who already had a double from earlier in the game, hit a solo homer in the fifth to extend our lead, his third dinger of the season. Their leadoff hitter in the bottom of the inning answered with one of his own out of right, and an RBI single by Wehiwa Aloy moments later cut our lead to one run ... but Leiter got through the inning and earned the right to hope for the win to count, our team leading 5-4 heading into the sixth. We bought some insurance in the top of the eighth with a solo homer by Brody Donay, just his second longball of the season, and closer James Tallon struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to put the cap on a 6-4 win and the series sweep. That was Tallon’s third save, improving his ERA to 1.50 through six innings work, but Gonsalves, Smith and Abeldt each had holds (the third for Smith and Abeldt), and Leiter improved to 2-0 with a five inning effort that included seven hits, a walk, five strikeouts and four earned runs. We outhit them 9-8, led by Grady who had two hits, a walk, a run and two RBIs.

We’ve got an off day tomorrow, and then will face two tough teams ... West Virginia (9-6) here at home, and then back to back road series against Trenton (10-5) and Frederick (7-8). We’ve been solid early, leading the league with a 12-3 record, but all it takes is a series or two to slip away and then we’re locked in a dogfight. In a short season, anything can and likely will happen, so we need to stay sharp!

[jksander]

June 21, 2025: Matthew Hoskins pitched in our first game against the West Virginia Black Bears, and we loaded the bases in the bottom of the first, taking a quick lead with a line drive into right by Clay Grady that batted in a run. Another followed quickly thereafter, and we held a 2-0 lead before Hoskins came out in the top of the second. He allowed three early baserunners off a pair of walks and an error, but West Virginia didn’t get a hit until the top of the seventh, and it didn’t matter ... the runner made it to second, but was stranded there. Eli Lopez bought us an insurance run as we extended the lead in the bottom of the eighth with his second homer of the year, and Tallon came out to close and got three quick outs including a pair of K’s as we won 3-0. Hoskins improved to 4-0 with a 1.19 ERA, allowing one hit, three walks and nine K’s in his seven innings, while Abeldt earned his fourth hold and Tallon his fourth save. We outhit them 6-2, Trevor Cohen leading the way with a hit, a walk and a run, while Grady and Donay each had a hit and an RBI.

June 22, 2025: Todd Hudson hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third, his seventh of the year, to put us into the lead 1-0 in what had been a tightly fought game (his was just our second hit). But Evan Blanco got hit hard in the top of the fourth ... two bloop singles off slow throws he made himself, and then with just one out he gave up the tying run on an RBI single from center fielder Josiah Harrison that put runners on the corners. A wild pitch put them into the lead, and though he got us through the remainder of the inning, I was undecided whether he’d get to go back out for the fifth. I gave him the chance to right his ship and he got three quick outs in the fifth to keep us within a run ... and with two outs in the bottom of the inning Trevor Cohen hit his third dinger of the season to tie the score at 2-2! Hudson wound up giving us a sixth solid inning, but we stranded runners on second and third in the bottom of the inning, unable to get him the lead ... so he stayed out into the stretch, and our score remained knotted heading into the break. We finally had to go to Grant Richardson in the pen, who came out in the top of the eighth, getting three outs off hard contact, after which we finally got the lead off a homer by Vince Fattore to go up a run in the bottom of the eighth! Tallon came out to finish them off in the ninth, ending this one on a fantastic 4-6-3 double play as we won 3-2! Blanco pitched a great game, lasting seven innings with just two hits, a walk, six strikeouts and two earned runs. He has a 1.82 ERA but has been saddled with his two losses, and really wanted the win this time out. He’ll have to settle for being nearly a win above replacement at this point. It would be Richardson (3-0, 1.08 ERA) who got the win, and Tallon saved his fifth game and third in a four day span! We outhit them 9-2, led by Grady (three hits) and Cohen (two hits, a run and an RBI).

June 23, 2025: We brought our five-game win streak into this final game of the series, and just a few minutes into the game we had the bases loaded, bottom of the first, no outs. But their guy got out of the jam and we left them all stranded. They took the lead instead on a two-run homer by Tim Simay (their leadoff man, with his third of the year) in the top of the third. They hit another homer in the top of the eighth to extend their lead to three runs, and they added another in the ninth, as Liam Doyle took one for the team and pitched his third inning. But when we should have conceded the loss, we kept fighting in the bottom of the ninth, and with two outs we scored our first run, Cohen batting it in with a single that put runners on the corners. Not that it mattered ... Tyler Albright struck out swinging to end the game as a 4-1 loss. J.T. Quinn took the loss, falling to 2-1 with a 2.00 ERA despite six innings with just five hits, a walk and two earned runs ... he even struck out six, giving him 21 K’s through 18 innings of play. Pitching wasn’t our problem -- we were outhit 9-6, and left 23 runners on base. Cohen, with his hit and RBI, led the team, while Albright had two hits and a walk, but never got anywhere.

We’ll have to lick our wounds and take our 14-4 record on the road to face the 12-6 Trenton Thunder next ... we won our first series against them two games to one to start our season, outscoring them 8-5 in that stretch. We have the two best scoring offenses in the league (ours at +37 and theirs at +25) but we’re 8-1 on the road while they’re 9-3 at home. So it should be an interesting battle ... our pitching should give us a serious edge ... they’re in second in the league in team ERA (2.27) and starters’ ERA (2.31) while coming in third for bullpen ERA (2.20). We lead all three categories by a wide margin, including an 0.87 bullpen ERA (which is helping our overall ERA remain a stellar 1.42, scoring 66 runs while allowing just 29. Surely that’s not sustainable, but we’re nearly a third of the way through our season so it seems we could keep it going.

[jksander]

June 24, 2025: Alex Lodise opened the series with a two-run homer in the top of the first that came on two outs ... his third homer of the year came through in a big way! We loaded the bags and drove home a pair of runs in the sixth to double our lead to 4-0, but they did get on the board with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning, just the third run Ben Barrett has given up all season. We got through the seventh alright, but the eighth was a shock to the system, as back to back solo homers cut our lead to one, and we rushed to get Abeldt warmed. He came out with two outs and a man on first, getting the out we needed to keep the lead heading into the ninth inning. With no insurance incoming, Abeldt came out to pitch again in the bottom of the ninth, having thrown just three pitches in the previous inning ... with two outs, he gave up a single to DH Andrew Schuldt, and then as our stomachs dropped he let Michael Mancini single into deep right ... the only thing that saved us was Schuldt taking third safely, while right fielder Cohen took the trailing runner out at second. We escaped with a 4-3 win against one of our toughest league foes. So I’ll take that! Barrett improved to 2-0 with a 1.08 ERA, lasting six innings with eight hits, a walk, four strikeouts and one earned run. T.R. Williams got his first hold and Abeldt, who has a 0.00 ERA through 11 innings over nine appearances, picked up his first save. But they outhit us 14-11, and we were playing with fire in the end. Only Lodise (four hits, a run and two RBIs) really looked comfortable on offense through the entire game.

June 25, 2025: Once again we opened this one with a bang, a two-out two-run homer by Lodise giving us the lead for the second day in a row! Cam Leiter came out throwing fire, striking out the side in the bottom of the inning, and he struck out the next two batters, getting their sixth to ground out harmlessly ... hell of a start! All told he got through the order for the first time with seven K’s and two groundouts, and was looking every bit the top prospect the papers have said he is. Clay Grady added on with a solo homer in the top of the fourth to make it a 3-0 lead, and Leiter tied his season high on strikeouts in the bottom of the inning. In the fifth he gave up a hit and a walk, both firsts for the day, but the shutout stayed intact. The game was never in doubt -- we added a two-run homer in the seventh, and Leiter made it through the seventh on 95 pitches, easily the best start of his season. J.J. Garcia pitched the final two frames and shut them down nicely as we won 5-0. Leiter improved to 3-0 with a 2.08 ERA, allowing two hits and two walks, no runs, 10 K’s in his seven innings of work. We outhit them 8-4, led by Lodise who had two hits, a walk, a run and two RBIs, as he brought his average up to .289!

June 26, 2025: A third of the way through the season we’re now leading everyone by four full games, which seems like a vast gulf. But tonight we took our foot off the gas early ... loading the bases in the top of the inning and stranding them all, and then allowing Trenton to take the lead in the bottom of the inning off an RBI single with just one out. By the time we got into the second inning we were in a 2-0 hole instead of the other way around, and their crowd was all for it. The scoring stopped after that first inning, as this one turned into a crushing pitching performance by the home team. They dominated this one, plain and simple, beating us 2-0 without our bats making any fuss at all. Matthew Hoskins pitched six innings with six hits, two runs and seven strikeouts, but wound up with his first loss of the year, falling to 4-1 with a 1.57 ERA. Each team had six hits, ours led by Cohen and Lopez who each had two hits to nowhere.

It’s hard to get too frustrated with just our fifth loss of the year ... we’re now 16-5 heading into three games against 10-11 Frederick, and the league remains ours to dominate if we’re up to that task. But if we thought we could coast against teams like this, we were wrong ... sweeps are never a given when every team is full of players who want to see their draft stock rise, with just a few weeks remaining before potentially life-changing contracts are put up for signing.

[jksander]

June 28, 2025: Frederick is the only team in the league to have a winning record against us, so we weren’t going into this one expecting them to lie down when playing on their field. We left the bases loaded in the third, no score, and Frederick hit us hard in the bottom of the inning, Cooper Whitton launching a two-run homer out of center to put them on the board. Clay Grady hit a solo bomb out of center left in the top of the fourth to get us on the board, trailing 2-1, but they led off in the bottom of the eighth with a solo bomb to extend the lead to two, and we had to go to the pen. Grant Richardson struck out a pair to end that inning, but we needed a pair in the ninth to keep the game going ... and tonight that was not in the cards. We lost 3-1, continuing to struggle against the Keys. Evan Blanco pitched seven innings with four hits, eight strikeouts and three earned runs, but wound up falling to 0-3 with a 2.27 ERA. We outhit them 6-4, but only Grady managed to put a run on the board.

June 29, 2025: We took the lead off a sac-fly by Henry Godbout in the top of the first, and Eli Lopez hit a three-run homer in the second to put us up 4-0. That should have set the tone, but with two outs in the bottom of the third we let the Keys crack open the door, scoring three runs to get right back in this one. We bought ourselves some breathing room with a two-run homer off Brody Donay’s bat in the fifth inning, and we added a run in the sixth to keep them further off kilter. We let them have a run back off loaded bases in the bottom of the eighth, but Tallon came out with a three-run lead to protect in the ninth and he did his thing, quieting their fans as we held tough to win 7-4. J.T. Quinn improved to 3-1 with a seven inning seven hit one walk eight strikeout performance, allowing four runs but only one of them was earned. We had his back, outhitting them 11-9 behind a two hit, one walk, one run and two RBI day for Donay, giving us a chance to fight tomorrow for the series win.
 
June 30, 2025: Vince Fattore got us going in the top of the second with a three-run homer, his fourth of the year, Henry Godbout hit a three-run blast of his own in the fifth to pile on, and though the Keys had several scoring opportunities in the game’s first half, they squandered them all by playing timidly on the basepaths. That’s not a mistake you’ll often see us making. I’ll admit it, we ran things up on them in the end, adding six runs in the sixth including a GRAND SLAM homer by Donay that completely silenced their fans. They did finally score in the bottom of the seventh with a solo homer by Matthew Mateo, but by then the game was far gone. We wound up beating them soundly 12-2, behind an eight inning seven hit, one walk, 10 strikeout performance by Ben Barrett, who is now 3-0 with a 1.36 ERA through five starts. We outhit them 14-8, led by Donay with two hits, two runs and four RBIs, while Albright added three hits and a pair of runs.

We went 18-6 in June, and will open the month of July with a pair of home series, facing West Virginia (15-9) and Mahoning Valley (4-20), before hitting the road to play Frederick (11-13) and West Virginia.

[jksander]

July 1, 2025: Cam Leiter started for us in game one against West Virginia, and after getting three quick outs in the top of the first we got him a lead when leadoff man Cade Campbell hit himself a solo homer, the first of the year for our backup shortstop, playing in just his fourth game of the season! Brody Donay hit a three-run blast out of left in the bottom of the second to pile on, and Tyler Albright kept the homer train rolling moments later with a solo blast that put us up 5-0. Leiter held the shutout through the sixth inning, our bats adding a run in the bottom of the inning to keep the game well out of reach for the Black Bears. But reliever T.R. Williams gave up a two-out homer in the seventh to let West Virginia get on the board, and in the ninth A.J. Colarusso gave up another, though he followed it with three quick outs as we won easily 6-2. Leiter improved to 4-0 with a 1.73 ERA, allowing four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts, and we outhit them 9-8 behind two hits, two runs and two RBIs for Campbell, who is hitting .308 despite limited action.

July 2, 2025: We got on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the third by Eli Lopez, and Matthew Hoskins was locked in all game, striking out eight batters in his first five innings of work as he held the 1-0 lead. He struck out another pair to get out of the sixth inning with a runner on second, but in the top of the seventh they tied it up with a homer off him as Ben Abeldt warmed up, bringing the bullpen arm out with the score now tied 1-1. Abeldt got us into the stretch without incident and then shut them down in the eighth as well, and when the store remained tied heading into the ninth, he sealed that inning as well in a spectacular performance. We would go on to win the game off a three-run walkoff homer from Vince Fattore, just his fifth of the season, beating West Virginia in the most brutal fashion 4-1. Hoskins had pitched six innings with six hits, no walks and 10 strikeouts, only allowing the one earned run, but Abeldt more than earned his win, improving to 2-0 with a four strikeout performance over three innings ... no walks, no hits, keeping his ERA perfect now through 14 innings pitched! They outhit us 6-4, but our power won out in the end ... Fattore’s three-run homer was the big finish, and he now has 12 RBIs.

July 3, 2025: Weire eight days away from the MLB Draft, and right now we’re the dominant team in the Draft League at the moment, leading Trenton by four games and West Virginia by five. This one was locked in as a duel for the first five and a half innings, but in the bottom of the sixth we blew it open with a four-run frame, taking the lead on a two-run single by Henry Godbout and adding on with a two-run double from Alex Lodise. But they loaded the bags in the top of the eighth, walking in a run to get on the board, though Evan Blanco held tough and kept them all stranded from there, sending us into the bottom of the inning with a three-run lead still. We brought out James Tallon in the ninth to close, and we held tough to shut them down 4-1, completing our sweep! Blanco finally got his first win, improving to 1-3 with a 1.82 ERA, lasting eight innings and 107 pitches, with just five hits, a walk, seven K’s and one unearned run, while Tallon saved his seventh game and improved his ERA to 0.90 through 10 innings’ work. Each team had five hits tonight, ours led by Godbout and Lodise, who each had a hit and two RBIs.

We have two series left before the draft: against last-place Mahoning Valley (6-21) here this weekend and on the road against Frederick (13-14). Our league then takes the day off on the 11th as all our players learn their fates.

[jksander]

July 5, 2025: We took the lead in the first inning against Mahoning Valley, going up 1-0 in the bottom of the inning off an RBI single by Brody Donay. But they tied us in the top of the fifth with a solo blast out of left by third baseman Blane Nestle, so we answered with a leadoff homer of our own by Godbout in the bottom of the inning, putting us back up 2-1. They did it again in the top of the sixth, tying us on a homer out of center by Wehiwa Aloy, their second baseman, and we went into the stretch knotted up 2-2. Derrick Smith took over for J.T. Quinn in the top of the eighth, and he got us through the ninth still tied up, and for the second time in a week we walked it off with a three-run homer, this time off the bat of Alex Lodise as we won this one 5-2! Quinn had a great night, pitching seven innings with four hits, three walks, 11 strikeouts and just two earned runs, but Smith (2-0, 0.00 ERA) took the win, pitching two innings with three strikeouts and nobody making it on base. We outhit them 14-4, led by Tyler Albright, who had four hits and scored two runs, while Lodise batted in three runs, hitting and walking once each.
 
July 6, 2025: We loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, no outs, and walked in a run when Vince Fattore took first. A three-run homer on two outs gave us a four-run lead, Trevor Cohen’s ninth of the season, and that pretty much broke their spirits. Cohen hit an RBI triple in the bottom of the fourth to add on, and in the top of the fifth Mahoning Valley answered finally with a blast of their own to get back within four. They got another run back in the top of the eighth off a wild pitch and a sac-fly, so Tallon came out in the ninth to close things out, striking out the side to end this as a 5-2 win! Ben Barrett pitched eight innings with six hits, six strikeouts and two earned runs, improving to 4-0 with a 1.54 ERA, while Tallon (with his eighth save) got his ERA down to 0.82, with the 21-year-old closer currently holding a stellar 0.55 WHIP through 11 innings (good for nearly half a game of WAR). They outhit us 6-5, but again we continued to win with power, Cohen leading the way with two hits for a run and four RBIs. We’ve now won seven games in a row, our longest streak of the season and our third of five or more games.

July 7, 2025: Mahoning Valley desperately wanted a win against us in game three of this series, but they had to face down undefeated ace Cam Leiter, who is hoping to see his draft stock rise enough to keep him at least firmly in the second round. They drew first blood, as left fielder Ely Kennel hit a homer out of right in the top of the fourth to go up 1-0, and they struck Leiter again in the fifth with a leadoff homer by shortstop Caiden Huber, who powered one out of left field. Leiter got us through the sixth, and in the bottom of that inning Todd Hudson hit an RBI single to get us on the board, this game tightening up significantly. Liam Doyle took over in the top of the seventh, trailing 2-1, and in the bottom of the seventh we took control with a three run homer by Brody Donay, a 385-footer that put us ahead by a pair. Ben Abeldt took the ball in the eighth, striking out the side, and we brought Tallon back out in the ninth to seal it as we won 4-2 to keep our streak alive with another series sweep. Doyle got the win, improving to 1-0 with a 1.62 ERA through 16.2 innings, buiding on Leiter’s solid six inning start (four hits, six K’s, two earned runs). Tallon saved his ninth game, his third in five days, and though he’d been projected to go significantly later, expectations now are that he could go sometime in the sixth or seventh rounds, as he’s now averaging 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings while allowing just a .158 average on balls batted into play. We outhit the Scrappers 8-5, led by Donay’s three-run homer and by three hits and a run scored for Henry Godbout.

Heading into our series against the 15-15 Frederick Keys, the tournament is officially ours to lose ... we’ve got a seven game advantage over Trenton, with Frederick and West Virginia each nine games back ... and in a short season like this (and halfway through it at that!) that kind of lead is all but insurmountable. At this point it’s more of a question of who we’ll face in the eventual championship series.

League standings:

1. Williamsport Crosscutters (24-6)
2. Trenton Thunder (17-13, 7 GB)
3. Frederick Keys (15-15, 9 GB)
4. West Virginia Black Bears (15-15, 9 GB)
5. State College Spikes (13-17, 11 GB)
6. Mahoning Valley Scrappers (6-24, 18 GB)

Our magic number to officially clinch the top seed in the playoff series stands at just 24, and all our remaining games against Trenton will be on our field (since we went went 4-2 against them in our first two series on the road). Frederick, our next opponent, has a 3-3 record against us, the only team to have matched up with us well thus far in the season.

Our pitching has been flat-out dominant, with a team ERA of 1.53, buoyed by a stellar 1.03 ERA for our bullpen. Our biggest “weakness” is that we’re only third of six in batting average (.237), and we’re fifth in stolen bases with 13 (though when winning big like we have, stealing bases would generally be seen as violating the unwritten rules of baseball. We’ve struck out an incredible 353 batters, 42 K’s better than Trenton, our nearest opponent, who lead the league with a .238 average and are second in team ERA with a 2.24 mark.

I’ve been hearing from several teams in the Arizona Fall League, and if we can finish strong, I may find myself getting a chance to extend my managerial season into the late fall months, after which I’ll have to see if I’ll be spending another year leading a team in this tournament or if higher level minor league teams will start calling.

[jksander]

July 8, 2025: We’re on the road at Frederick, with Matthew Hoskins on the mound. We took the lead in the top of the third off an RBI single by Clay Grady, and we extended the lead in the sixth with a solo homer by Todd Hudson, his eighth of the season. But Frederick got on the board with an RBI triple from Jimmy Keenan in the bottom of the inning, and they tied it up moments later when second baseman Hudson Shupe drove in a run by reaching first without a throw off an infield squib. Hoskins got out of the inning thanks to two successful pick-off plays in the same at-bat, so we went into the seventh knotted up 2-2. J.J. Garcia took over in the bottom of the seventh, striking out the side in that inning, and despite two baserunners in the eighth he got back to back K’s to get us out of that inning and into the top of the ninth still tied up at two. An RBI single by Lodise in the top of the inning got us a one-run lead, and Ben Abeldt came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning, getting three quick outs as we stole this one 3-2. Hoskins pitched six innings with seven hits, six strikeouts and a pair of earned runs, but Garcia got the win for us with two hits and five K’s in his two innings, improving his record to 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA. Abeldt then came out for his second save, striking out a pair himself, and his ERA remains unblemished now through 16 innings. We outhit them narrowly 10-9, led by our DH Lodise with two hits, two walks, a run and an RBI.

July 9, 2025: We took the lead in the top of the second off an Eli Lopez sac-fly, and then added on with a two-run homer by Drew Smith, his first of the year, quickly giving us a 3-0 lead. But they answered with a two-run blast in the bottom of the third by left fielder Matthew Mateo, putting the Keys right back in this one. But we removed all hope with a five-run fourth inning, turning this quickly into a rout. Neither team did anything offensively from there, but it didn’t matter as we cruised to win 8-2. Evan Blanco won his second game in a row, improving to 2-0 with a 1.99 ERA thanks to 5.2 innings with two hits, five strikeouts and two earned runs before getting pulled from the game with a strained hamstring. We outhit them 13-3, led by Drew Smith with three hits, two runs and two RBIs.

July 10, 2025: We opened this game with a homer in our first at-bat for Trevor Cohen, his fifth of the season. But they hit one of their own to tie it up in the bottom of the second, and the next batter did the same, shooting them into the lead 2-1. J.T. Quinn kept his cool -- giving up back to back homers would rattle just about anyone, but he got a pair of strikeouts to escape the inning trailing just by the one run. We tried to keep him out in the fifth inning, but he gave up a third solo bomb (all three went out of left) and after just 63 pitches we pulled Quinn for Brandon Gonsalves, who got three quick outs to get us into the sixth trailing 3-1. Jason Avila got us back within a run with a solo homer in the top of the sixth, but Jaden Stockton (on two outs) gave up a homer to Cooper Whitton to get Frederick the run back. Liam Doyle took over in the bottom of the seventh, and he pitched the rest of the way, but it was to no avail ... the Keys scored a run in the bottom of the eighth to extend their lead to three runs, and we went down quietly in the ninth as we fell 5-2. Quinn took the loss, falling to 3-2 with a 2.50 ERA after allowing five hits (three for homers!) with two walks and four strikeouts. But our bats were the biggest reason we fell, as we were outhit 9-3 ... only Cohen’s homer in the top of the first kept us from getting blanked. The loss snapped our win streak at 10 games, but we’ll go into draft day still leading all teams by seven games.
 
July 11, 2025: Here’s how our Williamsport Crosscutters collegians did on draft day:

1.23: SP Cam Leiter (Kansas City Royals)
1.26: 2B Henry Godbout (Philadelphia Phillies)
2.14: RP James Tallon (Seattle Mariners)
2.23: RP Ben Abeldt (Cleveland Guardians)
3.29: SP Ben Barrett (Los Angeles Dodgers)
5.3: SS Alex Lodise (Miami Marlins)
5.10: SP Evan Blanco (Texas Rangers)
5.13: 2B Jayden Davis (Minnesota Twins)
5.19: SP J.T. Quinn (Milwaukee Brewers)
6.4: RP Derrick Smith (Los Angeles Angels)
6.22: C Dalton Bargo (Atlanta Braves)
7.23: RP Liam Doyle (New York Mets)
8.8: RP Brady Jones (Pittsburgh Pirates)
9.19: SP Matthew Hoskins (Baltimore Orioles)
10.11: RP A.J. Colarusso (San Francisco Giants)
10.19: LF Tyler Albright (Baltimore Orioles)
10.22: RP J.J. Garcia (Atlanta Braves)
11.14: RF Trevor Cohen (Minnesota Twins)
12.29: RP Grant Richardson (New York Yankees)
13.7: SS Clay Grady (Toronto Blue Jays)
13.9: 3B Eli Lopez (Cincinnati Reds)
13.28: CF Vince Fattore (New York Mets)
15.3: C Brody Donay (Miami Marlins)
15.7: RP Jaden Stockton (Toronto Blue Jays)
15.11: 2B Drew Smith (San Francisco Giants)
17.6: SS Cade Campbell (Washington Nationals)

Center fielder Jason Avila went undrafted, and will return to Florida State.
Reliever Brandon Gonsalves went undrafted, and will return to the University of Central Florida.
Right fielder Todd Hudson went undrafted, and will return to Liberty University.
Reliever T.R. Williams went undrafted, and will return to James Madison University.

[jksander]

July 12, 2025: We’re on the road against West Virginia, and coming off our loss, we’d like to start the post-draft segment of our season on a solid note. Ben Barrett took the mound for us, and coming off the high of his high draft finish, he came out surprisingly sloppy in the first, loading the bases without an out. A sac-fly gave the Black Bears the lead, but we were able to get out of the jam with just the one run scoring. They added two more off a homer in the bottom of the second, however, and though Barrett had thrown fewer than 25 pitches in the two frames, his control seemed out of sorts. He settled down in the third, and in the top of the fifth we got on the board with an RBI triple by Todd Hudson and a sac-fly by Eli Lopez, pulling us back within a run, down 3-2! A.J. Colarusso took over with two outs, nobody on in the bottom of the sixth, and he pitched through the seventh inning, with our team finally tying the score in the top of the eighth off a single by Trevor Cohen! Derrick Smith took the ball in the bottom of the eighth, and Ben Abeldt came out to pitch in the bottom of the ninth, getting us into extras when he picked off a runner on first to get the final out ... score tied 3-3! We brought out Tallon in the bottom of the 10th, getting out of the frame with three quick outs around a single baserunner, and for just the second time this season he got through a second inning to keep us going into the 12th! In the top of the inning, with two outs, Brody Donay powered a homer out of left to put us into the lead, and we brought out Brady Jones, who quietly got three outs, stunning the home fans as we won 4-3! Tallon got the win with his two innings of one hit, two strikeout ball, giving him an 0.64 ERA and a 1-0 record through 14 innings. Jones, meanwhile, has only played in seven games this year, but he kept his ERA perfect, striking out a batter and earning his first save. Each team had six hits, ours led by Donay, the 15th rounder headed for Miami, who hit twice with a run and an RBI.
 
July 13, 2025: Cam Leiter came out on fire tonight, striking out the side in the bottom of the first, but he threw a lot of pitches in the second and third to get out of jams, and their pitching was doing as much to slow us down as ours was theirs. He struck out the side again in the fifth to keep the game scoreless, but with first round drafting comes draft league managerial responsibility not to break the big league’s shiny new toy. So with the score still 0-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth, we brought out T.R. Williams to avoid putting Leiter over 80 pitches, a number we’d only let him pass three times this year. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, left fielder Bryce Chance drove in a run by reaching first on an E4 error, putting the Black Bears up 1-0. That woke up our offense -- in the top of the seventh, Henry Godbout scored off a wild pitch, and we took the lead with an RBI single by Eli Lopez, going ahead 2-1 as we entered the seventh inning stretch. J.J. Garcia took over in the bottom of the inning, and after two runs scored in the top of the eighth, Abeldt took over and immediately struggled ... giving up a run to the Black Bears, but then locking in and getting the three outs we needed (two by strikeout!) Still leading by a pair heading into the bottom of the ninth, Tallon took over and got the outs we needed as we held tough to win 4-2. Leiter had a solid outing, with five innings and just three hits and a walk, striking out nine batters. Williams got the win, improving to 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA after allowing two hits and an unearned run with two strikeouts. Garcia (2) and Abeldt (6) each held the lead, and Tallon came out of it with his 10th save, a hit and a strikeout helping him to improve his stellar ERA to 0.60 through his 13th appearance. They outhit us 8-7, but Todd Hudson led our offense with two hits and a run, while Henry Godbout added a hit, two runs and two RBIs.

July 14, 2025: With our record at 28-7, it’s going to be hard for anybody to catch us, especially with our team holding a better record on the road (16-4) than at home (12-3), with more home games remaining for the year than road ones. Matthew Hoskins pitched for us tonight, and after two scoreless innings we took the lead in the top of the third via a two-run homer by Trevor Cohen! The Black Bears got a run back off a homer in the bottom of the fifth by Coy Sarsfield, but we added two runs on in the top of the seventh thanks to a Todd Hudson solo homer and an E3 error and dropped pitch that let Eli Lopez in to score, giving us a 4-1 lead headed into the break. Derrick Smith took over in the seventh, pitching around runners on the corners to get us out of the inning without any damage. Liam Doyle then took the ball in the eighth, getting us the rest of the way as we won 4-1. Hoskins improved to 5-1 with a 1.74 ERA, pitching six innings with four hits, a walk, a run and six strikeouts, and Doyle came out of it with a two inning save, his second, allowing a hit with two strikeouts. We outhit them 9-7, led by Trevor Cohen with three hits, a run and two RBIs.

We’ll face Trenton (21-15) for three here in Williamsport, with a chance to all but put the tournament lead to bed ... they’re now eight games back, four games better than anybody else in the league, and unless they can close that gap, there’s pretty much nothing standing in our way.