Keys Take Down Black Bears on Opening Day
June 4, 2024 - Major League Baseball Draft League (MLBDL)
Frederick Keys News Release
Granville, WV- The Frederick Keys took down the two-time defending league champion West Virginia Black Bears 5-5 in a sudden death victory Tuesday night at Kendrick Family Ballpark, winning their season opener on the road in the first of a six-game road trip.
The Keys leaned on a walk-off hit in the sudden death frame from Allan Gil-Fernandez (State College of Florida), who drove the ball into the left-center field gap to take down the Black Bears, after Frederick tied it in the ninth on a hit-by-pitch drawn by Irvin Escobar (Bethune-Cookman).
Frederick started off the scoring in the second inning with a solo homer hit by Kaden Moeller (Mt. San Antonio College), and took a 1-0 lead heading into the third, after Christian Rodriguez (Cal State Fullerton) struck out back-to-back batters to end the bottom of the second inning.
West Virginia responded however in the bottom of the third with two runs off an RBI double from Jeff Liquori and an RBI groundout from Jordan Rogers, making it a 2-1 lead through three innings of play at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
After both teams went scoreless in the fourth, the Keys responded with two runs scored in the top of the fifth after Tervell Johnson (UT-Rio Grande Valley) and Brody Fahr (Presbyterian) scored on wild pitches to bump the lead for Frederick to 3-2 halfway through the contest Tuesday night.
Following a scoreless bottom of the fifth from Rodriguez, the Keys tacked one more in the sixth on an RBI single from Johnson to push the lead to two at 4-2, and two more strikeouts from Rodriguez on the hill kept it a two-run game entering the seventh.
Liquori delivered a two-RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game back up at four apiece going into the eighth, but Evan Yates (Cal State Fullerton) retired the last two batters of the frame to allow the score to remain tied after seven innings played.
Dariel Osoria knocked in an RBI single to put the lead back in favor of West Virginia at 5-4, but the Keys responded in the ninth with paticence at the plate, leading to the hit-by-pitch drawn by Escobar to knot things up at five apiece heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Valek Cisneros (Central Oklahoma) struck out the last batter he faced in the ninth to take the game to the sudden death frame, and after West Virginia elected to pitch, Gil-Fernandez took the first pitch he saw into left-center field to score Moeller from first, winning the game for the Keys in sudden death to open the season.
The Keys return to action Wednesday night to take on the Black Bears with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. from Kendrick Family Ballpark.
For more information about the Frederick Keys, please contact Gus Baylow by email at gbaylow@frederickkeys.com.
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Major League Baseball Draft League Stories from June 4, 2024
- Keys Take Down Black Bears on Opening Day - Frederick Keys
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