By Ty Bartell
The Mahoning Valley Scrappers defeated the West Virginia Black Bears for the third consecutive day with an emphatic 10-1 victory in eight innings. The Scrappers' southpaw, Charlie McDaniel, started on the mound for Mahoning Valley, while the Black Bears countered with Cory Ronan.
Both teams went scoreless in the first inning before the Scrappers brought the boom sticks to the bottom of the second inning, amassing six runs off five hits, two walks, and an error. Joel Dragoo highlighted the inning with a two-RBI double, and Josh Stevenson and Tripp Clark contributed RBI hits, giving McDaniel a comfortable lead.
McDaniel delivered a quality start, tossing six innings of scoreless baseball, allowing five hits, two walks, and striking out three. The Scrappers added to their lead in three straight innings, starting in the fifth with two additional runs, highlighted by an Alton Gyselman RBI double.
Mahoning Valley added a run in the sixth off a John Schroeder RBI double and another in the seventh when Gyselman scored from third on a wild pitch. Jack O’Dowd put West Virginia on the board in the top of the eighth with an RBI single, making it 10-1 Scrappers. However, the game was called due to impending rain in the bottom of the eighth, marking a victory for Mahoning Valley.
The Scrappers (12-14) and the Black Bears (9-16) return to Eastwood Field tomorrow for the final game of the two-game set, with a 7:05 p.m. first pitch.
