West Virginia Black Bears Win NYPL Championship

The Pittsburgh Pirates Short Season-A affiliate, the West Virginia Black Bears, headed to Staten Island for the second game of the New York Penn League Championship Series on Tuesday, September 15th. The Black Bears were coming off an eleven inning thriller the night before at Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown, West Virginia.

On Monday night, Black Bears Coach Wyatt Toregas spelled out the script for Tuesday’s game. Have a listen below!

The Black Bears sent Dario Agrazal to the mound while the Yankees started James Kaprielian. The starting pitchers would not disappoint as both held each team in check for the first four innings. In the bottom of the fifth, the Yankees would strike first as Jhalen Jackson crushed a home run off of Agrazal.

In the sixth inning, Mitchell Tolman led off the inning with a double off the top of the wall in center field but would be stranded.

The Black Bears weren’t able to plate a run off of James Kaprielian, the Yankees top pitching prospect. However, Kaprielian was pulled after 6.1 innings of work and was replaced by James Reeves. The very first batter Reeves faced would be the hot hitting Carlos Munoz. Munoz stayed hot as he tied the game with a home run to right field.

With the game tied, it became another battle of the bullpens. Black Bears reliever Cesilio Pimentel would get into a jam in the bottom of the eighth with runners on first and third with one out. Black Bears Coach Wyatt Toregas would stick to his script and go to Julio Eusebio. Eusebio came in and struck out Zack Zehner and then Trey Amburgey grounded out to Ke’Bryan Hayes to get the Black Bears out of the jam.

The Black Bears came to bat in the top of the ninth against Yankees reliever Josh Roeder. Carlos Munoz led off the inning with a ground out. Ke’Bryan Hayes then singled bringing Casey Hughston to the plate. Mighty Casey would drive the third pitch of his at bat deep to right center field for the two run go-ahead home run!

Julio Eusebio would strike out the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth before getting Jhalan Jackson to ground out to Hayes to end the game to give the West Virginia Black Bears the New York-Penn League Championship in their inaugural season.

Black Bears starting pitcher Dario Agrazal went five innings, allowed just one run on three hits, one walk and nine strikeouts. Cesilio Pimentel went 2.1 innings and allowed just two hits and struck out four. Julio Eusebio went 1.2 innings and struck out three while picking up the win.

The Black Bears offense was led by Carlos Munoz and Casey Hughston with two hits each. Hughston had the two run homer. Munoz had the solo home run and hit .444 during the playoffs. Ty Moore and Mitchel Tolman both had doubles in the game. Ke’Bryan Hayes and Erik Forgione each added singles.

As for the Yankees, Eduardo de Oleo led the team with two hits. Jhalan Jackson had the home run for the only run. Ryan Krill and Thairo Estrada both added a hit. Starting pitcher James Kaprielian went 6.2 innings and allowed three hits, two walks and six strikeouts. James Reeves pitched 0.1 innings and allowed two hits, including the one home run, one walk and one strikeout. Ethan Carnes went 0.1 innings and struck out one. Jeff Degano went 0.2 innings and allowed one hit. Josh Roeder suffered the loss while going 1.1 innings and giving up two runs on two hits, one walk and one strikeout.

We at Rum Bunter have enjoyed providing our readers with coverage of the entire West Virginia Black Bears season. We look forward to continuing to cover the team through the offseason and once again next year!

Next: Black Bears Trying for Championship