West Virginia Black Bears series wrap-up v. ValleyCats

The Pittsburgh Pirates Short Season-A affiliate, the West Virginia Black Bears, wrapped up their seventh road series of the season Thursday night. The Black Bears hit the road to take on the Tri-City ValleyCats in a three-game series. The ValleyCats The ValleyCats hail from the Stedler division of the New York Penn League and are an affiliate of the Houston Astros. The Black Bears entered the series with a record of 20-16, while the ValleyCats came into the series with 19-17 record. The Black Bears enter the series winners of nine straight.

Game 1

Game one on Tuesday resulted in a 5-1 loss for the Black Bears. The bats were somewhat quiet in the first game in Tri-City. Kevin Newman led the way with two doubles. Ty Moore had a hit and collected an RBI. David Andriese added two hits while Ryan Nagle added one hit. Dario Agrazal suffered the loss despite allowing just two earned runs on six hits. Tate Scioneaux pitched one inning and allowed one hit and struck out two. Eric Dorsch pitched just 0.2 innings and allowed three runs, two earned, on two hits. Edgar Santana pitched the final 1.1 innings and allowed one hit and struck out four.

Game 2

Game two on Wednesday resulted in a 5-4 loss for the Black Bears. The Black Bears were led at the plate by Ryan Nagle and Casey Hughston with two hits. Hughston also had an RBI double. David Andriese added a double. Logan Hill hit his fourth home run of the season in the top of the first. Starting Pitcher Juan Paula picked up the loss while going 4.2 innings and allowed five runs, two earned, on six hits and three strike outs. Jonathan Minier pitched 1.1 innings and allowed one hit, one walk and three strike outs. Cesilio Pimentel pitched the final two innings and struck out three.

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Game 3

Game three on Thursday resulted in a 5-3 loss for the Black Bears. The Black Bears offense was led once again by Logan Hill. Hill had a home run, a triple and scored two of the three runs. Alexis Bastardo and Ryan Nagle each had RBIs in the game. Daniel Arribas had a double and scored the other run. Starting Pitcher Seth McGarry suffered the loss while giving up four earned runs on two hits, four walks and one strikeout. Nick Hibbing threw 3.1 innings and allowed just one hit and struck out two. Julio Eusebio pitched the final two innings and allowed one earned run on two hits and struck out two.

Looking Ahead

The Black Bears will look to rebound as they continue the road trip in Connecticut for a three game weekend series with the Tigers. The Tigers hail from the Stedler division of the New York Penn League and are an affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. The Black Bears will then return home on Monday to begin a home stand that features three games with the Auburn Doubledays and three games with the State College Spikes.

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

Next: Black Bears/Yankees Recap