West Virginia Sweeps State College with 14-Hit Game

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West Virginia Black Bears

West Virginia Sweeps State College with 14-Hit Game

August 29, 2024 - Major League Baseball Draft League (MLBDL)
West Virginia Black Bears News Release


STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The West Virginia Black Bears beat the State College Spikes 8-7 to sweep the series at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. West Virginia's bats came out swinging for 14 hits in Thursday night's win with shortstop Kasten Furr recording four in his four at-bats.

Back to their hard-hitting ways, the Black Bears roared out of the gate with a run in the first. Spikes' starting pitcher Phillip Bryant struck Kasten Furr with a pitch and intentionally walked Jack O'Dowd to put two Bears on base. Trace Willhoite roped a single down the middle to score Furr from second.

The next inning, West Virginia scored three to take a 4-0 lead. Jeff Liquori led off with a line drive before advancing to second on a wild pitch by Bryant. Liquori made his way to third on a ground out by Connor McGuire, coming home the next at-bat on an RBI base hit from T.J. Williams. Furr put two Bears in scoring position with a line drive to left field, and J.T. Marr plated Williams and Furr to take a four-run lead.

State College got three runs back in the bottom of the inning. Two walks by starting pitcher Ryan Sleeper put Sebastian Castro and Parker Coddou on base. Cameron Bufford drove in Castro with a hard-hit ball to center field. Aggressive on the base paths, a double steal put the infielders in scoring position, and a sac-fly aided by a throwing error on Liquori scored both. With the bases empty, Sleeper walked Kyle Russell before manager David Carpenter called to the bullpen for relief.

A.J. Stinson took the mound for Sleeper with two outs and Russell on first. Despite another steal of second, Stinson got the third out on a ball popped up to McGuire. Heading into the third, the Bears held a shaky 4-3 lead.

West Virginia added some much-needed padding with a two-run inning in the fourth. The Bears loaded the bases after singles from McGuire and Marr and the walk of Furr. Following a brief mound visit, O'Dowd joined the party with a base hit that scored McGuire. With the bases still juiced, a second mound visit ensued bringing in Daelan Caraway for State College. The reliever walked in a run, hitting Willhoite with his second pitch, to give the Black Bears a 6-3 lead. Caraway secured the final two outs, striking out Alex Vergara and Liquori, and the Spikes entered the home half trailing by three.

In the fifth, the Black Bears took advantage of the Spikes' pitching woes to add two more runs to their total. Caraway led off the inning with two straight walks, putting Ryan Grabosch and McGuire on base. The sac-bunt from Williams moved both 90 feet, and a grounder to left field from Furr extended the lead to 7-3. With the Bears on the corners, Marr's sac-fly brought in McGuire for the eighth run.

The Spikes defense pulled together to blank the Bears through three innings. Grabosch was left on base in the sixth, and a double play in the seventh erased Furr's progress on the base paths. Vergara and Liquori pushed for a two-out rally with singles in the eighth, but they were stranded on a ball popped up and fielded by Russell.

State College made a huge run in the bottom of the eighth to pull within one. Coddou picked up a single off reliever Sayer Diederich before he struck out T.J. Pound. Two base hits from Bufford and Austin Roccaforte scored one run. A ball lined to Liquori in right field brought home Bufford to cut the lead to three with Spikes on the corners. Carpenter pulled Diederich after 0.1 IP, sending in Jack Maruskin to finish the job. A wild pitch by Maruskin bought in Roccaforte, and Josh Spiegel smacked a line drive to right for an RBI double. Maruskin punched out two to end the inning but not before the Spikes drew within one.

The Bears went down in order the start the final frame, and Maruskin headed back to the mound to close the game. Castro's bunt attempt was foiled with a well-executed throw from catcher Marr to O'Dowd at first. Coddou reached on a four-ball walk, stealing second for his 15th steal of the season. With the tying run in scoring position, Maruskin took down the remaining two batters to seal the Black Bears' win.

After struggling in Wednesday night's game, the Black Bears bounced back with force in Thursday's contest with 14 hits. Every batter recorded at least one with Kasten Furr driving the offense with four. Furr, from Louisiana Tech, got a hit in all four at-bats and drew one walk. The shortstop recorded three runs with one RBI in the fifth. J.T. Marr drove in three runs with his two hits, and Jeff Liquori went two-for-four with one run in the second.

West Virginia's bullpen won by committee after Sleeper's early exit in the second. A.J. Stinson got the win with his 2.1 innings pitched, striking out three with one walk. Noah Manning allowed one hit through his two-inning appearance, and Jackson Kirkpatrick allowed one hit with one K in the seventh. Credited with the save, Jack Maruskin got the Bears out of a sticky situation in the eighth before putting the game away in the final inning.

The State College bats came alive in the eighth inning with Kyle Russell going three-for-four with a walk and an RBI. Austin Roccaforte put up two hits in his three at-bats with two RBI. The Spikes notched 11 total hits through nine innings.

With the win, the Black Bears sit atop the MLB Draft League standings with a half-game over the Trenton Thunder and six remaining. West Virginia travels to Frederick for a three-game series against the Keys beginning Friday evening before returning home for the final series of the regular season on September 2. First pitch for Friday night's game against the Keys at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium is set for 7:00 p.m.

- WVBB -

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