West Virginia Black Bears series wrap-up v. CrossCutters

The Pittsburgh Pirates Short Season-A affiliate, the West Virginia Black Bears, wrapped up their eighth road series of the season Tuesday night. The Black Bears headed to Williamsport to take on the first place Crosscutters. The Crosscutters are an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The Black Bears entered the series with a record of 24-24, while the Cutters came into the series with an 30-18 record.

Game 1

Game one on Sunday resulted in a 2-1 win for the Black Bears. Williamsport scored a run in the first on a Josh Tobias RBI double. The Black Bears answered with a Logan Hill RBI Single in the sixth. Then, in the top of the ninth, Logan Hill hit his sixth home run of the season to give the Black Bears the lead and eventual win.

The Black Bears offense was led by Logan Hill with two hits and two RBIs. Mitchell Tolman added two hits while Ty Moore and Ryan Nagle each added a hit.

Black Bears Starting Pitcher Brandon Waddell made his season debut. He went three innings and allowed just one run on three hits, one walk and four strikeouts. Tate Scioneaux pitched three innings and allowed two hits and struck out four. Sean Keselica picked up his first win of the season while going three innings and allowing three hits and three strikeouts.

Game 2

Game two on Monday resulted in a 3-2 loss for the Black Bears. The Black Bears had a one run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. The CrossCutters scored a run to send the game to extra innings. In the bottom of the eleventh, Jan Hernandez homered to give the Cutters the win.

It was a quiet night for the offense. Erik Forgione had two hits and scored twice. Logan Hill had one hit and an RBI.

Black Bears starting pitcher Seth McGarry went 4.2 innings and allowed one run on five hits, three walks and six strikeouts. Cesilio Pimentel went three innings and allowed just two hits while striking out four. Julio Eusebio picked up the loss while going the final 2.1 innings and allowing two runs on two hits and striking out two.

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Game 3

Game three on Tuesday resulted in a 5-2 loss for the Black Bears. The Black Bears jumped out to a two run lead in the first after putting together several hits. However that would be all of the scoring for the Black Bears. The Cutters picked up two runs in the second, two runs in the fourth inning and one run in the fifth.

The Black Bears offense was led by Logan Hill’s two hits. Ryan Nagle and Casey Hughston each had a hit and an RBI. Mitchell Tolman, Ty Moore and Daniel Arribas each added a hit.

Black Bears starting pitcher JT Brubaker suffered his fourth loss of the season while going four innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, one walk and three strikeouts. Jonathan Minier went one inning and gave up one run on two hits and walked one. Eric Dorsch pitched the final three innings and struck out two.

Looking Ahead

The Black Bears  return home Wednesday to host a three game series with the Aberdeen IronBirds. The IronBirds hail from the McNamara division of the New York Penn League and are an affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. Then the Black Bears will head to State College for games on Saturday and Sunday.

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/Spikes Recap