Keys Fall to Black Bears for First Loss of the Season
June 5, 2024 - Major League Baseball Draft League (MLBDL)
Frederick Keys News Release
Granville, WV - The Frederick Keys suffered their first loss of the season Wednesday night after falling to the West Virginia Black Bears 3-1 at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
The Keys did not score from the third inning on despite tough at-bats all the way through, as two runs in the bottom of the third was enough for the Black Bears to take control to get their first win of 2024.
Grant Richars (Southwestern Illinois College) started his outing strong on the hill in the bottom of the first with a scoreless frame, and followed it up with a 1-2-3 second inning to keep the game deadlocked at 0-0 entering the third inning of play.
Frederick scored the game's first run on an RBI fielder's choice hit by Zech Samayoa (Golden West), giving his team a 1-0 lead through two and a half innings of play, but West Virginia roared back with a two-RBI double from Jeff Liquori to put the home team out in front by a run at 2-1 going into the fourth in Morgantown.
Wyatt Evans (Tennesee) earned himself a scoreless inning of relief in the bottom of the fourth and recorded two strikeouts while doing so to keep it a 2-1 ballgame through four innings.
Evans got himself his third strikeout of the game to keep it a 2-1 contest heading into the sixth, as the Keys offense looked to respond down by just a run going into the second half of the ballgame Wednesday night.
After the Keys went scoreless in the top of the sixth, the Black Bears tacked on one more run on an RBI single by Mauricio Millan to right field, bumping the lead to 3-1 for West Virginia as the game approached the seventh inning at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
Following a scoreless seventh inning on both sides, the top of the eighth featured the first plate appearance of the season for Dennis Kasumba (Uganda Baseball) as he drew a walk to put the tying run on base in the frame, but Frederick could not score, keeping it a 3-1 ballgame through seven and a half innings.
After Tom Sun (Augustana) threw a scoreless bottom of the eighth, Hunter Hodges slammed the door shut on the victory for West Virginia, after striking out the last batter of the game to send his team home with a 3-1 victory Wednesday night in Granville.
The Keys will conclude the series with the Black Bears Thursday night with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. from Kendrick Family Ballpark.
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Major League Baseball Draft League Stories from June 5, 2024
- Spikes Capture First 2024 Win by Blanking Thunder, 3-0 - State College Spikes
- Bears Bite Back in 3-1 Win Over Keys - West Virginia Black Bears
- Keys Fall to Black Bears for First Loss of the Season - Frederick Keys
- West Virginia Falls to Frederick in Opening Day Game - West Virginia Black Bears
- Spikes Overcome Big Deficit in Season Opener, But Fall to Thunder, 8-7 - State College Spikes
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