West Virginia Black Bears series wrap-up v. Spikes

The Pittsburgh Pirates Short Season-A affiliate, the West Virginia Black Bears, wrapped up their eighth home series of the season Saturday night. The Black Bears remained home to host the State College Spikes. The Black Bears entered the series with a record of 23-22, while the Spikes came into the series with an 21-23 record.

Game 1

Game one on Thursday resulted in a 7-6 loss for the Black Bears. The Black Bears were led at the plate by Kevin Newman and Casey Hughston with three hits each. Mitchell Tolman, Logan Hill, Ryan Nagle each had two hits and an RBI. Deybi Garcia and Maximo Rivera each had a hit and RBI.

Black Bears Starting Pitcher Bret Helton went four innings, allowing six runs (four earned) on eleven hits, two walks and two strike outs. Eric Dorsch pitched three innings and struck out two in relief. Edgar Santana pitched one inning and allowed one hit, two walks and three strikeouts. Sean Keselica suffered the loss while pitching the tenth and allowing one earned run on two hits and a walk.

Game 2

Game two on Friday resulted in a 4-1 win for the Black Bears. The story of this one was the performance of Black Bears starting pitcher, Dario Agrazal. Agrazal threw seven innings, allowing just one run and three strikeouts. He was relieved by Cesilio Pimentel who picked up the two inning save and allowed just two hits, one walk and a strikeout.

The Black Bears offense was led by Mitchell Tolman with three hits. Tolman had two doubles and scored twice. Logan Hill had two hits and an RBI. Ty Moore, Casey Hughston and Daniel Arribas each had a hit and RBI. Albert Baur had two hits while Ryan Nagle added a hit.

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Game 3

Game three on Saturday resulted in a 2-1 loss for the Black Bears. After being knotted at 1-1 since the fifth inning, the game headed to extra innings. The Spikes scored in the top of the tenth and the Black Bears were unable to answer in the bottom half of the inning. Chris Harvey scored the Black Bears only run in the second inning. Casey Hughston led the way with two hits and continues to improve at the plate. Hughston has raised his average to .241. Kevin Newman, Mitchell Tolman, Logan Hill, Ty Moore, Daniel Arribas, Chris Harvey and Christian Kelley each had a hit in the game.

Black Bears Starting Pitcher Juan Paula went five innings and allowed just one run on four hits, one walk and three strike outs. Jerry Mulderig pitched 1.2 innings in relief and allowed a hit and two walks. Nick Hibbing suffered the Loss while going 2.2 innings and allowed one run on two hits, three walks and a strike out. Daniel Zamora pitched the final 0.2 innings and struck out two.

Looking Ahead

The Black Bears will hit the road Sunday for a BIG three-game series with the division leading Williamsport Crosscutters. Then on Wednesday, the Black Bears will return home to host the Aberdeen IronBirds. The IronBirds hail from the McNamara division of the New York Penn League and are an affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles.

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!

Next: Black Bears/DoubleDays Recap

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