GRANVILLE, WV – The Frederick Keys dropped a sudden death heartbreaker to the West Virginia Black Bears Wednesday night, falling in the sudden death tiebreaker 4-4 at Wagener Field at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
Despite leading by one going into the ninth, the Keys fell in the tiebreaker after West Virginia tied the game on a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth, securing the series sweep over Frederick on their home turf.
Following each side going scoreless in the first inning of play, Matthew Becker (South Carolina) struck out the side in the bottom of the second, keeping it deadlocked at zeros apiece through two innings of play in West Virginia.
Truitt Madonna (Ballard High School) gave the Keys an early 1-0 lead on a solo homer to left field, but an RBI fielder’s choice for West Virginia tied the game at one apiece heading into the fourth at Wagener Field at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
After both teams went scoreless during the fourth inning of play, the Black Bears took the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI sacrifice fly and RBI single, extending the home team’s lead to two at 3-1 entering the sixth.
Frederick responded in the top of the sixth with an Eddie Hacopian (Maryland) RBI triple, and an RBI sacrifice fly from Lance Trippel (South Florida) evening things back up at three going into the seventh, as Ryan Rissas (UCLA) earned a scoreless bottom of the sixth inning on the mound.
Jose Silva (International Baseball Academy) gave the Keys the lead back on an RBI single to center, handing Frederick a 4-3 advantage approaching the eighth in Morgantown.
Following a scoreless top of the eighth inning for the Keys, Declan Lavelle (Elon) got himself a 1-2-3 bottom of the frame, taking the contest into the ninth with the Keys still up by one on the road.
Judah Morris tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on a solo homer to center field, but Drew Blake (Oklahoma St) retired the next three batters to take the game into sudden death all tied at four.
The Black Bears won the tiebreaker on an RBI single from Tyler Pettorini with two outs, wrapping up an exciting finish in Morgantown Wednesday night in sudden death.
The Keys return home for one game on Thursday in a matchup against the Trenton Thunder. First pitch from Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium is set for 7:00 p.m. Thursday night.
Thursday’s game represents the Fireworks Extravaganza and Independence Day Celebration presented by Magic Mountain Chimney Sweeps, with the show projected to be the biggest and longest fireworks show all season long.
