West Virginia Silent in Series Opener

August 17, 2019 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
West Virginia Black Bears News Release

GRANVILLE, W. Va.- Coming off of a three-game road trip, the West Virginia Black Bears returned home and fell to the Williamsport Crosscutters 4-0.

Despite the loss, the Black Bears remain just half a game back of the Pinckney Division crown. The leading Batavia Muckdogs lost their matchup with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, keeping West Virginia in striking distance.

Williamsport opened things up with an early run thanks to a Black Bears miscue. A triple and a throwing error brought one across for the visitors to put them ahead in the first inning.

The Crosscutters followed that up with an RBI single in the top of the second, putting West Virginia in an early 2-0 hole.

RHP Braxton Ashcraft settled down in the following three innings to give his team a quality start. The 19-year-old finished his outing after five innings of work, where he surrendered only one earned run and five hits to go with three strikeouts and a walk.

The Black Bears struggled at the plate coming off a blistering hot road trip. The team only mustered up four hits in the ballgame, with two of them coming from SS Ethan Paul.

After a pair of solo home runs in the seventh and the eighth, Williamsport built the lead out to 4-0.

RHP Alec Rennard shut down the visitors with a scoreless top of the ninth, but West Virginia couldn't mount the comeback in the bottom half as the team dropped its first game of the home stand.

Both teams are back in action tomorrow afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. For more information on tickets and promotions visit www.westvirginiablackbears.com.

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