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Thunder continue championship bid against Williamsport

July 30, 2023

As the calendar flips to August and Labor Day closes in, the Trenton Thunder looked to continue their march towards their second MLB Draft League Championship as they started a quick two-game set against the Williamsport Crosscutters in front of a sellout crowd at Trenton Thunder Ballpark on Saturday night.

While it was a scorcher off the field with temps in the high 80s at first pitch, the pitching matchup was even hotter. Wesley Gafford would take the hill for the Thunder against the Crosscutters' lefty Zach Shoemaker.

Gafford would pitch five strong innings for the Trenton Thunder, allowing just one unearned run on two hits while punching out three and walking one. On the Crosscutters' side of the score line, Shoemaker would also go five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits, striking out eight and walking three in the start.

After a scoreless top half of the opening frame, Trenton would strike first off a Kolby Johnson triple to left field and a single up the first base gap off the bat of Joe Impeduglia to put the Thunder on the board first.

The Crosscutters would tie things up at 1 in the top of the third inning as they would get runners at second and third, then drive home the tying run off the bat of West Texas A&M product Will Fuenning.

The rains would start in the top of the fourth inning with the score tied. After a 59-minute rain delay, Gafford would commit a balk but would get Freddy Rojas to ground out to negate any damage.

After a walk, a hit batter and a passed ball, Ramon Jimenez would drive in Justin Guerrera with a sac fly to center field to put the Trenton Thunder back on top 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth. A wild pitch later in the inning would allow Dan Covino to score and make it a 3-1 Thunder advantage.

The Thunder would threaten again in the home fifth but couldn't capitalize as Jimenez would strike out swinging to end the inning.

Lorenzo Petersen would come in from the Thunder bullpen to start the sixth inning and a pair of fielding errors would cost the Thunder the lead, making it a 4-3 Crosscutters advantage. However, that advantage would not last long as the Thunder would tie things up in the seventh off an errant pickoff attempt of pinch-runner Angel Mendoza that drove in Jack Lynch.

After a solid three inning outing from Lorenzo Petersen, Trenton would call on Southern University righty Enrique Ozoa to hold the Crosscutters at bay in the ninth and give the Thunder offense a chance in the home half of the inning. Ozoa would allow just one hit and give the Thunder one more chance to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth. After an Angel Mendoza walk and an infield single by Anthony Fontana, Ramon Jimenez would come to bat with a chance to win the game but would strikeout swinging to force a tiebreak.

But in the tiebreak, Jimenez would get picked off in a rundown. Anthony Abbatine would then get thrown out on a close play at first leaving Roberto Lopez in as the last chance for the Thunder. He, however, would fly out to right field to end the game in a loss for the Thunder.

The Road Ahead for the Thunder

Trenton will finish up this series with the Crosscutters on Sunday evening with first pitch set for 5 p.m. After that, they'll embark on a six-game road trip that will see them face off against these same Williamsport Crosscutters and the State College Spikes before returning home next Monday to start a series against the Frederick Keys.