GRANVILLE, W.Va. – The West Virginia Black Bears scored seven unanswered runs to overcome an early two-run deficit against the Williamsport Crosscutters on Friday night at Kendrick Family Ballpark. A patient offense with a mix of stellar pitching talent helped the Bears secure the 7-2 win and sweep the Crosscutters in the two-game home set.
The Crosscutters struck early in the first inning with bases loaded. A sacrifice fly to deep left field from Mitch McCabe scored Levi Perrell’s leadoff base hit. On another bases loaded scenario, Eli Majick tossed his first punch out of the game to minimize Williamsport’s scoring potential to one run.
The Crosscutters added another run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly from McGuire Holbrook to send home Porter Brown after reaching on walks, advancing to second base on a wild pitch, and stealing third.
Michael Gemma made his Black Bears debut Friday night, replacing Majick at the top of the fifth inning. Introduced to a runner on first base, Gemma struck out his first batter faced. After walking one and a wild pitch shifting the bases, a line drive to Kasten Furr emptied the bases to end the inning.
The Bears’ offense came together in the home half of the fifth inning. Kasten Furr drove a base hit that moved J.T. Marr after reaching on walks to start the frame. Dayne Leonard’s ground out advanced the runners, putting both in scoring position. Chris Einemann reached on walks to load bases with two outs. A very patient at-bat rotation allowed West Virginia to tie the game, recording its first two runs with O’Dowd and Willhoite reaching on walks with the bases loaded.
Gemma re-emerged for his last full frame of play to strike out three of four batters faced, including the first two leadoff hitters.
Quickly switching to the home half of the sixth inning, Kendal Ewell spaced a 429-foot solo leadoff homerun over the visitor’s bullpen to claim the Black Bears’ first lead of the night at 3-2.
As Sayer Diederich relieved Gemma after 1.2 innings pitched, he put away the leadoff hitter with a strikeout. Brown reached on walks and aimed to tie the game on Kyson Donahue’s line drive to left fielder Ewell. Racing from first base all the way to home plate, Ewell launched it to Willhoite at third base as Marr passed, but a quick send off to Marr for the tag prevented Brown and the Crosscutters from tying the game.
The Bears blew the game open in the bottom of the seventh inning, starting with a leadoff double from Williams. After O’Dowd walked, Willhoite reached first base on a forceout that removed Williams. With the Crosscutters rotating the bullpen, a fly single from Jeff Liquori loaded the bases. Extra patience landed the Bears two consecutive walks from Ewell and Marr that brought home O’Dowd and Willhoite. With the bases still juiced for most of the frame, Furr sent a ground ball along the right foul line. Ewell and Liquori scored on an error by first baseman Joshua Lopez – the third fielding error for the Crosscutters – to give the Bears a 7-2 lead.
Diederich took the mound once again in the eighth inning to retire the side, striking out his first two batters faced while collecting an in-field groundout.
Closer Jack Maruskin entered in the top of the ninth for the second night in a row, tossing two strikeouts to end the game and series.
The Black Bears recorded eight hits in Friday’s victory, doubling the Crosscutters’ four, with Kasten Furr leading the team going three-for-four at the plate. Kendal Ewell added two RBIs with and scored two of the Bears’ seven runs, including his 429-foot solo leadoff homerun in the sixth inning to give West Virginia the lead. Michael Gemma was awarded the win in his Black Bears debut, posting four strikeouts through 1.2 frames of work.
Michael Florides led the Crosscutters with two hits in four plate appearances in their five-run loss. McGuire Holbrook and Mitch McCabe each posted respective RBIs.
West Virginia begins a five-game road stretch at Frederick on Saturday for another two-game series against the Frederick Keys before heading to Williamsport for their final series of the season. The Black Bears return to Kendrick Family Ballpark on Friday, August 9.
