SCRAPPERS SUFFER FIRST DRAWBACK OF THE SEASON

By Ty Bartell

NILES OH- In the second game of a four game series, The Mahoning Valley Scrappers, once again, met The West Virginia Black Bears on Eastwood Field. The Scrappers sent Ahmad Harajli to the mound as the starter while West Virginia responded with Cobe Reeves. 

Following the loss in Thursday’s outing, The Black Bears realized the importance of scoring first, hanging three runs in the top of the first inning with Ross Mulhall hitting a two-run shot as an exclamation point on the inning! Scrappers would get a run back in the bottom of the second when Harrison Rodgers belted an RBI-double to trim the deficit to two. 

However, The Black Bears were not to be messed with, responding with six runs in the top of the third and chasing starter Harajli early. On the other side, Cobe Reeves was in a rhythm and rode the wave of momentum through five innings of work, giving up a lone unearned run in his outing. Adding on to their lead once again, West Virginia extended their lead to double digits with RBI hits coming from both Logan Kohler and Devin Saltiban. 

The Scrappers would get three runs back in the bottom of the sixth, courtesy of a two RBI-double by Mason Sykes and an RBI sac fly from Colton Coates. But again, West Virginia was not messing around on offense, re-extending their lead to double digits with a Ryan Grabosch RBI-double and a Brody Fahr RBI-single making it 16-4 West Virginia. 

The 16 runs would be more than enough offense, as the combined pitching efforts of Cobe Reeves, Mitch Dye, Evan Brandt and Brady Choban combined for 12 total strikeouts on the evening. Reeves was credited for the win with his five inning outing as West Virginia evened the opening four game set at a game a piece. 

Both teams will be back at it on Saturday, June 3rd with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch start time. Live coverage of the game can be found on ysnlive.com/live