Cutthroats Get Swept By The Knights

It was a tough weekend for the Saratoga Cutthroats as they were swept in a doubleheader by the Green River Knights on Sunday, June 23.

Game 1

The Green River Knights had a dominant performance led by Pitcher Kamden Liebelt. Liebelt came close to having a no-hitter but ended up having seven strikeouts, two walks, and only allowed one hit. There was nothing the Saratoga Cutthroats could do at this point of the game. The Knights won 7-0.

Game 2 Knights

Things went from bad to worse for the Saratoga Cutthroats in Game 2. Green River Knights pitcher Lander Welch had three strikeouts and allowed three hits, four walks, and one run.

In the top of the 3rd inning, Green River scored first. The Knights took control of the entire game. Despite Saratoga only allowing seven hits, Green River could capitalize on the Cutthroat's wild pitches and errors. The Knights had successful base-stealing and limited Saratoga to only three hits. In the bottom of the 5th inning with one out, the Cutthroats had the bases loaded but were able to bring in one run with Saratoga's Kannon Gilbert crossing home plate.

The Knight's defense prevented the Cutthroats from scoring additional runs in the bottom of the 5th. From the 6th inning and beyond, the Knights batters were unstoppable. Green River won the game and took the sweep 18-1.

Casey Jones, head coach of the Saratoga Cutthroats said despite the two losses, he saw some positives. Jones said his guys played one of the toughest opponents in Legon.

"This is about the best baseball games played here in Saratoga," Jones said "This was one of the better A-Teams and our team just scared the heck out of them in the first game."

Jones said his guys did everything right, however, they just need to turn the corner and capitalize on any opportunities given to his team.

"The key now is to turn the corner," Jones said. "We had stranded runners at third base in the early innings and they are good scores so we know we can get them in. At one point we had the bases loaded with one out. The runs are there, we just need to knock them in. "

Jones said in the second game his guys just ran out of gas. He said, Green River is tough and one of the best A-Teams.

"The 10-run rule went into effect after five innings," Jones said. We played well and stuck with them through three innings. Then we had trouble both offensively and defensively. Game 1 was great, we ran out of gas in Game 2."