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MLBDL West Virginia Black Bears

First-Half Champions: West Virginia Clinches a Spot in MLB Draft League Championship with 10-4 Win over Mahoning Valley

July 15, 2022 - Major League Baseball Draft League (MLBDL)
West Virginia Black Bears News Release


GRANVILLE, W.Va. - In front of a packed crowd on Friday evening, the West Virginia Black Bears clinched a spot in the MLB Draft League Championship game with a 9-4 win over the Mahoning Valley Scrappers at Monongalia County Ballpark. With the win, the Black Bears solidified their spot at the top of the league standings with a 22-15 record with one game left to play in the first half of the season.

Things got off to a rocky start at the Mon, as the Scrappers took an early 1-0 lead. But after a double play got the Black Bears out of the inning, West Virginia began its championship rally.

In the bottom of the first, MLB Draft League home run leader Ryan Hernandez added to his total with a solo shot to right field to tie up the contest at one run.

The game opened in a major way for the Black Bears in the bottom of the second inning after a fielding error from Scrappers starting pitcher Will Geerdes allowed C Cameron Gurney to reach home to increase the lead to 2-1.

The Black Bears defense continued to tighten up throughout the next few innings in a dominant performance led by starting pitcher Zach Bravo. In his longest outing to date, Bravo punched seven strikeouts through 6.2 innings and allowed just four runs off seven hits with three runs coming in the seventh.

After a slow couple of innings, the West Virginia bats came alive in a big way in the bottom of the fifth. Savier Pinales got things started with a double that deflected off Scrappers pitcher Geerdes. The next at-bat, SS Blaze Brothers sent a ball deep into left field that ended in a flyout, but not before driving Pinales home. The following at-bat, Hernandez homered for the second time in the game to bring home RF Sam Crail and put the Bears up 5-1.

West Virginia continued to build momentum in the bottom of the next inning after a triple from Gurney deep to center field plated Caeden Trenkle. A passed ball by catcher Cooper Foard allowed Gurney to score to give the Bears a 7-1 lead.

Though the Scrappers attempted a comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning with three runs that included a solo home run from 3B Zach Storbakken, reliever Wyatt Wendell recorded the final out of the inning to hemorrhage the damage.

Then for good measure, the Black Bears responded with a two-run homer off the bat of LF Kyle Hess that scored DH Hunter May to give West Virginia a five-run advantage.

Closer Will Schomberg capped off the evening with two strikeouts in the final inning of play to secure West Virginia's 9-4 lead.

In a game full of offensive highlights, Ryan Hernandez had a particularly stellar game. Hernandez finished his evening going two-for-four at the plate with three RBI and the two home runs. Hernandez now leads the MLB Draft League in multiple statistical categories including home runs (8), RBI (24) and slugging percentage (.714).

With tonight's victory, the West Virginia Black Bears (22-15) clinched the first half MLB Draft League Championship, and in turn, will host the Championship game on Tuesday, September 6. The Black Bears return to finish the series against the Scrappers on Saturday evening at The Mon with first pitch set for 7:05 p.m.

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