GRANVILLE, W.Va. - The West Virginia Black Bears defeated the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, 12-6, at Monongalia County Ballpark on Tuesday evening. Anthony Hansen and Bobby Lada led the offense in their six-run win. The Black Bears pitching showed up and out with Anthony Arguelles, John Bakke and Jim Jarecki racking up 15 strikeouts through nine innings.
The Black Bears wasted little time taking control of the game. Starting pitcher Anthony Arguelles got rolling in the second, striking out two and retiring three-of-four batters. In the bottom of the inning, Manny Vorhees came home on an RBI single by Bobby Lada, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead. A sacrifice fly from Noah Lucier scored Anthony Hansen, and a ground out from Harold Torres drove in Bobby Lada to bring the score to 3-0 heading into the third.
The Scrappers struck back the next inning as Mason Sykes drove in Braylin Marine for one run. Soon after, Owen Young cleared the bases with a grand slam to give Mahoning Valley a 5-3 lead.
But West Virginia tied it up in the bottom of the third. Ben McClain hit a triple and later scored off an RBI single from Michael Cooper. With the bases loaded, Lucier drew a walk to send Cooper home for the tying run.
The next inning, with a ground-rule double from Anthony Hansen that brought home Patrick Lee and McClain, the Bears surged ahead for a 7-5 lead.
After the fourth, the West Virginia offense dominated Mahoning Valley. Blaine McIntosh drove in Lucier for another run in the bottom of the fifth. Lada got his second RBI of the evening in the sixth inning as he scored Manny Vorhees to go up 9-5. Anthony Hansen came home on a wild pitch from Scrappers’ reliever Andrew Lucas, before a two-RBI single off the bat of McIntosh pushed the Bears’ lead to 12-5.
Despite a run scored on a single from Corey King in the top of the seventh, the Scrappers were unable to overcome the deficit and ended the game down 12-6.
Not to be outdone by the strength of the offense, the West Virginia pitchers held Mahoning Valley to six runs on six hits. Starter Anthony Arguelles picked up the win with seven strikeouts through his five innings pitched. John Bakke, who replaced Arguelles in the sixth, allowed two hits and struck out five in his two-inning appearance. Newcomer Jim Jarecki closed the game for the Bears with three strikeouts through two.
Anthony Hansen and Bobby Lada led the strong offensive outing for the Bears. Hansen finished his evening with two hits, two runs and two RBI, while Lada went three-for-five with two runs and two RBI.
With the win, the Black Bears improve to 33-18 on the season, 5.5 games ahead of the second-place State College Spikes. West Virginia returns for game two against Mahoning Valley on Wednesday evening on Pepperoni Roll Day. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
