West Virginia Black Bears series wrap-up v. Spikes

The Pittsburgh Pirates Short Season-A affiliate, the West Virginia Black Bears, wrapped up their ninth road series of the season Sunday night. The Black Bears headed to State College to take on the Spikes. The Spikes are an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Black Bears entered the series with a record of 26-28, while the Spikes came into the series with an 29-24 record.

Game 1

Game one on Saturday resulted in a 7-5 loss for the Black Bears. The Black Bears jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. Christian Kelley singled and later scored on a Daniel Arribas single. Mitchell Tolman walked, then Albert Baur singled to load the bases. Logan Ratledge came to the plate and tripled clearing the bases and giving the Black Bears a four run lead. The Spikes, Jhohan Acevedo and Michael Pritchard, had back to back doubles in the third to get the Spikes first run in the third. The Spikes would score two runs in the fourth. The Black Bears Christian Kelley would walk in the top of the fifth and later score on a Daniel Arribas ground out. Black Bears starting pitcher Seth McGarry would walk the first two batters, Leobaldo Pina and Casey Grayson, in the bottom of the fifth before Tate Scioneaux would replace him. Orlando Olivera would single in a run. Then Scioneaux would get Cole Lankford to hit into a double play but the game tying run would cross the plate. In the bottom of the eighth, the Spikes would score two runs. The Black Bears wouldn’t have an answer in the ninth.

Black Bears reliever Julio Eusebio would suffer the loss as he gave up two runs on one hit while going just the final 0.2 innings. Jonathan Minier struck out the only batter he faced in the eighth inning. Tate Scioneaux pitched three innings and allowed three hits while striking out two. Black Bears starter went four innings, allowing five runs on five hits, four walks and struck out five.

Logan Ratledge led the way with his bases loaded triple. Daniel Arribas had two hits and two RBIs. Christian Kelley and Albert Baur each collected two hits. Kevin Kramer, Ryan Nagle, Mitchell Tolman and Casey Hughston each added a hit.

Game 2

Game two on Sunday resulted in a 4-3 win for the Black Bears. The Black Bears took an early lead on an Albert Baur RBI single that scored Alexis Bastardo. Bastardo would score the second run in the seventh inning on a Kevin Kramer triple. In the bottom of the ninth, the Spikes would get the bases loaded and eventually tie the game to send it to extra innings. In the top of the thirteenth inning, Albert Baur would single and eventually score on a Mitchell Tolman single. In the bottom of the thirteenth, the Spikes Orlando Olivera walked with two outs. Then Leobaldo Pina tripled which scored Olivera. The next batter, Jose Godoy walked. The next Spike to the plate, Casey Grayson hit what appeared to be a line drive to CF to win the game but, we will let the tweets of the State College Spikes tell the story:

The Black Bears would then get an Erik Forgione single to lead off the fourteenth. Kevin Kramer would bunt Forgione over to second. Christian Kelley would then hit an RBI single that scores Forgione to give the Black Bears the lead. Jerry Mulderig would pitch the fourteenth and allowed the first two batters to reach before striking out Jhohan Acevedo and then getting a game ending four-six-three double play.

Black Bears starting pitcher JT Brubaker went six innings, struck out four and allowed just one hit and one walk. Eric Dorsch pitched two innings and allowed just two hits and struckout one. Daniel Zamora allowed two walks, one hit and two earned runs. Nick Hibbing went four innings and allowed two hits, one walk and two strikeouts. Juan Paula would throw one inning and allowed one run on one hit and two walks. Jerry Mulderig would get the win while throwing one inning, allowing one hit, one walk and one strikeout.

On offense, Kevin Kramer led the way with his three hits, including a triple and an RBI. Mitchell Tolman continued to swing a hot bat and added three hits and an RBI. Christian Kelley and Albert Baur each added two hits and an RBI. Ryan Nagle and Alexis Bastardo each collected two hits. Casey Hughston and Erik Forgione each added a hit.

Looking Ahead

The Black Bears will get off days on Monday and Tuesday while several players will head to Aberdeen for the All-Star Game. The team will return to action on Wednesday as they host the Auburn DoubleDays on Wednesday and Thursday.

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/IronBirds Recap