BLACK BEARS HANDLE PEPPERS HEAT
By Ty Bartell
NILES, Ohio — The Mahoning Valley Scrappers, playing as the Mahoning Valley Peppers in Oil for one night only, fell to the West Virginia Black Bears in the opening game of a three-game series by a final score of 10-9.
Alex Brewer took the mound for the Black Bears while Austin Mora got the start for the Peppers. Mora got off to a hot start, facing the minimum in the top of the first with the help of a key double play. The Peppers struck early, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first inning starting with a Chang-Yong Lee RBI single, followed by a Zach Ketterman two-run triple, and capped off with a Dreylin Holmes RBI double.
With an early 4-0 lead, Mahoning Valley looked to be in control as Mora shut down the West Virginia lineup in the second inning. After retiring the first two batters in the third, it seemed the Peppers would continue their dominance. However, the Black Bears mounted a two-out rally, starting with a bases-clearing, three-run double by Trace Willhoite, cutting the deficit to one. Jeff Liquori then went deep to right-center, giving West Virginia its first lead of the game at 5-4 after three innings.
T.J. Williams added to the West Virginia lead with an RBI sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth, bringing home Chris Einemann to make it 6-4 Black Bears. West Virginia continued their scoring in the fifth when Liquori delivered again with an RBI single, giving the Black Bears a three-run advantage. Mahoning Valley responded in the bottom of the inning with a Dreylin Holmes home run to left-center, his third of the season, bringing the Peppers back within two.
After a scoreless sixth inning for both teams, Willhoite came through once more in the top of the seventh with his sixth double of the season, bringing home a run and extending the lead to 8-5. The Black Bears added two more runs in the top of the eighth off a Jack O’Dowd single, doubling their lead to 10-5. The Peppers showed resilience in the bottom of the inning, starting with a two-run single from Kota Suzuki, followed by a Chang-Yong Lee RBI double and a Dreylin Holmes RBI single, narrowing the gap to 10-9.
Conner Mackay came on for the Black Bears to get the last out of the eighth. He remained on the mound in the ninth, sending Mahoning Valley down in order to secure the save and the series-opening win for West Virginia.
Both Mahoning Valley (21-24, 5-6) and West Virginia (18-26, 6-5) will resume the series on Tuesday, July 30, at Eastwood Field with a traditional 7:05 p.m. first-pitch start.
