GRANVILLE, W.Va. – The West Virginia Black Bears defeated the Mahoning Valley Scrappers 2-1 at Kendrick Family Ballpark on Tuesday evening. Strong defensive performances from both teams kept the game knotted at one through the ninth inning, leaving Trace Willhoite to walk it off with his second home run of the series.
Christian Womble took the mound for the Black Bears in his 13th start. After posting 10 strikeouts through 8.0 innings at State College, Womble continued his hot streak against Mahoning Valley. Working quickly through the order, Womble punched out two to send the Bears to the plate.
Mahoning Valley scored one in the top of the second to take the early lead. After securing the first two outs, a Jake Tsukada double extended the inning. Isaac Williams drove Tsukada home with a line drive to center field. Another single from Matthew Rivera put Scrappers’ runners on the corners. As Rivera took off for second, a heads-up play from catcher Dayne Leonard stopped him in his tracks but gave Williams time to break for home. With a quick throw from shortstop Kasten Furr back to Leonard, the Bears caught Williams at the plate to get out of the inning.
Both teams went down in order in the third and fourth with Womble picking up four more strikeouts in his 1-2-3 innings. Though the starter stumbled in the fifth, issuing five straight balls to walk Williams, Leonard stopped the momentum with another strong throw to second to catch him stealing once again.
West Virginia’s offense struggled against Mahoning Valley’s starting pitcher, Zach Norris. The righty retired the side through the fifth with only Connor McGuire and J.T. Marr recording hits through five frames.
The Scrappers started the sixth with a lead-off walk, putting Zach Ketterman on base. A sacrifice bunt from Kota Suzuki moved Ketterman into scoring position, but he was forced to stay on second as T.J. Williams made a diving catch for the second out. A ground ball fielded by McGuire and flipped to Jack O’Dowd at first ended the Scrappers’ threat, holding the score at 1-0.
With a trip to Williamsport on the line, the Black Bears tied the game in the bottom of the inning. T.J. Williams led the inning off with a sharp line drive that put him on second. Vergara moved Williams to third on a groundout to short, and he finally came home on Furr’s RBI single.
After another three up, three down inning for Womble in the seventh, manager David Carpenter tapped his bullpen to bring in right-handed pitcher Will Carsten. Picking up where Womble left off, Carsten sat down the order in the eighth with two strikeouts and a ground ball he tossed to first.
Reliever Miles Hellum kept West Virginia off the base paths in the bottom of the inning, sending Carsten back to the mound for the Bears in the ninth. Dreylin Holmes slapped a ground ball to Furr for a single, but Mahoning Valley went back to the dugout on a 5-4-3 double play.
Down to their final three outs, the Black Bears delivered with a walk-off run from Trace Willhoite. On the fifth pitch from closer Jonathan Martinez, Willhoite lifted the fastball up and over the center field wall for a 400-foot home run.
Christian Womble made his case for Player of the Week with a strong seven-inning performance. The right-handed ace struck out nine, allowing one run off three hits. Will Carsten got the win after his 2.0 innings on the mound. Carsten struck out two with one hit in his pair of scoreless innings.
For the fourth time in as many games, Trace Willhoite touched all bases, walking it off for West Virginia. The Georgetown, Kentucky, native leads the league in home runs with 10 on the season.
Mahoning Valley’s Zach Norris held the Bears’ batters to one run on four hits. The right-handed pitcher from the University of Texas-Arlington posted five strikeouts through 6.0 innings.
With the win and Trenton’s 7-4 loss at Frederick, West Virginia is tied with the Thunder for first place with one game remaining. A win for the Black Bears and a loss for the Trenton on Wednesday will send the reigning champs to their third straight MLB Draft League championship game to face the Crosscutters in Williamsport.
The Black Bears return to Kendrick Family Ballpark for the final game of the regular season on Wednesday evening. First pitch against the Scrappers is set for 6:30 p.m.
