West Virginia Black Bears series wrap-up v. Vermont Lake Monsters

The Pittsburgh Pirates Short Season-A affiliate, the West Virginia Black Bears, wrapped up their fifth road series of the season Monday night. The Black Bears played a three game series at the Vermont Lake Monsters. The Lake Monsters are an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. The Black Bears entered the series with a record of 9-11, while the Lake Monsters came into the series with 8-12 record.

Game 1

Game one resulted in a 7-3 win for the Black Bears. Dario Agrazal made the start for the Black Bears and went five innings, allowing three hits, two runs, three strikeouts and a walk. Edgar Santana came on in relief and pitched two innings, allowing just one hit, one walk and one strikeout while picking up his first win of the season. Andy Otamendi pitched the final two innings allowing four hits, one run and one strikeout while picking up his second save. As far as the offense goes, Logan Hill hit his third home run of the season, this one a three run homer in the ninth. Kevin Kramer had two hits and a walk in the game. Albert Baur, Ty Moore, Mitchell Tolman, Ulises Montilla and Casey Hughston each collected one hit in the game. In the losing effort, Vermont was led by Mikey White, Chris Iriart and Trace Loehr with two hits each. Loehr had a home run off of Agrazal in the third inning. Kevin Ferreras gave up three runs and picked up the loss for the Lake Monsters.

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Game 2

Game two resulted in a 5-4 loss for the Black Bears. The Black Bears were led at the plate by Ulises Montilla and Logan Hill with two hits each. Montilla, Albert Baur and Casey Hughston each had RBIs in the game. Ty Moore and Mitchell Tolman also had hits in the game. Cesilio Pimentel started the game for the Black Bears and went five innings, allowing seven hits, three runs and four strikeouts. Eric Dorsch suffered the loss in relief allowing two hits and the eventual game winning run. The Lake Monsters were led by Richie Martin‘s two run homer in the third. Seong-min Kim led them with three hits. Chris Iriart and Ryan Howell each had two hits and scored twice. Derek Beasley pitched 1.2 innings in relief and didn’t allow a hit or run while picking up his second win of the season. James Naile pitched the final 1.1 innings and picked up his first save.

Game 3

Game three resulted in a 4-2 loss for the Black Bears. Ulises Montilla led the team with two hits. Kevin Newman had a double and the team’s only other hit was a Ty Moore two RBI single. Seth McGarry started the game for the Black Bears and pitched five innings allowing just one hit, one run, one walk and four strikeouts. Sean Keselica picked up the loss after allowing a two run home run to Seong-min Kim in the eight inning that turned out to be the game winner. Vermont reliever Evan Manarino pitched the final three innings and picked up his second win.

Looking Ahead

The West Virginia Black Bears have the day off Tuesday. The Black Bears return home to for a three game series with the State College Spikes starting on Wednesday. The Spikes are an affiliate of the St Louis Cardinals. After this series at home, they hit the road for four games in three days at the Auburn Doubledays. The Auburn Doubledays are an affiliate of the Washington Nationals.

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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