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NYPL West Virginia Black Bears

Black Bears Split Series with Muckdogs

August 16, 2018 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
West Virginia Black Bears News Release


GAME ONE

Granville, W. Va. - Coming off of the All-Star Break, the West Virginia Black Bears shut out the Batavia Muckdogs 2-0.

Both of West Virginia's runs came on solo homers, while the pitching staff dominated Batavia all night. The Muckdogs only posted two hits in the ballgame, unable to get a man on base in the final three innings.

P Nicholas Economos led the charge for the Black Bears with another fantastic start. The righty dominated through six innings scoreless innings, giving up only two hits while striking out nine batters and walking one other.

While Economos battled on the mound, West Virginia got on the board in the top of the third. CF Daniel Amaral launched a solo shot beyond the right field fence to give his team a 1-0 lead.

After three scoreless innings, DH Edison Lantigua doubled his team's lead with one swing of the bat. His solo home run gave the Black Bears a two-run cushion, as the visitors looked to the bullpen to seal the victory.

In the seventh and eighth inning, P Francis Del Orbe was lights-out. The righty reliever picked up five of his six outs via the strikeout, all without surrendering a hit.

Not to be outdone, P Logan Stoelke came out in the ninth inning to pick up his sixth save of the season. West Virginia's closer struck out the side, finishing out a game where the pitching staff got 17 of the 27 outs in the game on strikeouts.

GAME TWO

In the second game of the series, the West Virginia Black Bears lost to the Batavia Muckdogs 8-4.

After struggling in game one, Batavia's lineup found its groove on Thursday night. The Muckdogs picked up 15 hits in the game, compared to 10 for West Virginia.

Batavia started things off in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer, but the Black Bears responded quickly. 3B Ben Bengston cut the deficit in half with a sac-fly in the second inning to put the score at 2-1.

Then in the bottom of the second, the Muckdogs opened up the lead. A triple and a pair of singles brought three more runs around the score, putting West Virginia in a four-run hole.

Two more runs came around for the home team in the bottom of the fourth on a single to right field, giving Batavia a 7-1 lead.

RF Brett Kinneman came through in the fifth inning with an RBI fielder's choice, continuing his RBI hot streak for the Black Bears in 2018.

The Muckdogs got one final run in the bottom of the seventh, as a balk brought home a runner from third to put the score at 8-2.

West Virginia made things interesting in the ninth, driving home a pair of runs on Batavia's closer. Kinneman got his second RBI of the game on a double into the gap, followed by a single from C Grant Koch to make it an 8-4 ballgame.

With too big of a deficit to overcome, Batavia got the final three outs to end the evening and split the two-game series.

The Black Bears head back to Granville for a six-game homestand, starting things off with three games against the Williamsport Crosscutters. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

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