West Virginia Black Bears series wrap-up v. State College Spikes

The Pittsburgh Pirates Short Season-A affiliate, the West Virginia Black Bears, wrapped up their third road series of the season Friday night. The Black Bears paid their first visit to the State College Spikes, the Short-Season A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Black Bears entered the series with a record of 5-6, while the Spikes came into the series with 4-7 record.

Game 1

Game one resulted in an 5-2 loss for the Black Bears. Ty Moore, Daniel Arribas and Albert Baur led the way for the Black Bears with two hits each. Kevin Newman, Alexis Bastardo and Kevin Kramer each added one hit. Kramer collected an RBI on his hit. Dario Agrazal suffered the loss for the Black Bears. For the Spikes, Josh Swirchak had two hits and four RBIs. Danny Martin had three hits. Casey Grayson and Harrison Bader each had two hits as well. Ian McKinney collected his first win of the season while Tyler Bray got his first save.

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Game 2

Game two resulted in a 7-1 win for the Black Bears. Kevin Newman fouled a ball off his foot in the first inning and was replaced by Erik Forgione. Forgione, Albert Baur, Daniel Arribas, Ulises Montilla, and Christian Kelley each had two hits. Mitchell Tolman added a hit as well. Andy Otamendi collected his first win of the season. For the Spikes, Michael Pritchard led the way with four hits and scored the Spikes’ only run. Jorge Rodriguez suffered the loss for the Spikes while allowing five hits, five runs, and five walks.

Game 3

Game three resulted in a 6-1 loss for the Black Bears. Ty Moore led the way with two hits. Danieal Arribas and Deybi Garcia each added one hit on the night. Kevin Kramer scored the lone run for the Black Bears. JT Brubaker suffered his third loss of the season. For the Spikes, Casey Grayson had three hits and three RBIs. Dailyn Martinez picked up his second win of the season.

Looking Ahead

The 6-8 West Virginia Black Bears return home for a three-game series with the 3-11 Batavia Muckdogs (the Short-Season A affiliate of the Miami Marlins) starting on Saturday night. This series will be followed by a road trip to Lowell to face the Spinners on Wednesday, July 8th for a three-game series. The Spinners are an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and come from the Stedler Division of the New York Penn League.

Make sure to tune in to RumBunter as we continue to provide coverage of not only the Pittsburgh Pirates but of the West Virginia Black Bears throughout the season as well!

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