GRANVILLE, W.Va. - The West Virginia Black Bears beat the State College Spikes 9-3 on Saturday night at Kendrick Family Ballpark. After a back-and-forth contest, the Bears pulled away for good with four runs in the eighth inning. Judah Morris made a statement with two home runs, driving in four and scoring three. With the win, the Bears move to 6-0 at home in the second half of the MLB Draft League season, having won four of their last five series.
After two scoreless frames, the Bears got on board in the bottom of the third. Landon Frei opened the inning with a double before coming home on Judah Morris’s first RBI single. State College loaded the bases after walking Alex Ungar and striking J.T. Carter with a fastball. Patient at the plate, Jace Rinehart walked on the 11th offering from Spikes’ starter Luke House, bringing the Bears’ lead to two.
The Spikes cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth inning when Manny Jackson plated Chenar Brown with a line drive to right field.
West Virginia jumped ahead in the fifth inning with Morris’s sixth home run of the season. Ungar followed with a triple deep to center field, before Jace Rinehart’s ground out allowed Ungar time to make it home. Heading into the sixth, the Bears led 4-1.
But the next two innings brought the Spikes within one. In the sixth, Cole Caruso scored on Brown’s groundout to third to cut the lead to two. Before the stretch, an RBI double from Oman scored Adonis Forte from first, bringing the score to 4-3.
Morris gave the Bears some breathing room in the bottom of the seventh with his second home run of the game. Then West Virginia pulled away for good in the eighth as the Bears erupted for four runs. Landon Frei got the inning started with a ground-rule double before Alex Rodgers was walked. A bunt-single from Drew Collins juiced the bases for Morris, who continued his hot streak driving in his third and fourth runs of the game. A force out at second sent Morris back to the dugout, but not before scoring Collins. The final run came in on a groundout from Rinehart as the Bears ended the game ahead by six.
The Bears’ bats totaled 13 hits, led by Judah Morris and Alex Ungar, two of the hottest hitters in the league. Morris finished 4-5 with two homeruns, four RBI, and three runs. The Illinois State power hitter had his second multi-home run game of the summer and has hit four homers in the past four games. Reigning “Hitter of the Week” Alex Ungar finished the game 2-4 with a triple, a walk, an RBI and two runs.
Starting pitcher Gavin Braunecker improved to 4-0 in his third start. Braunecker finished the game giving up just two earned runs with seven strikeouts over 6.2 innings pitched. Michael Foltz Jr. and Wes Burton both recorded three K with one hit in a single inning of work.
With the win, the Bears (11-4) are now 2.0 games ahead of the second-place Williamsport Crosscutters with one month remaining in the season. West Virginia returns to Kendrick Family Ballpark on Sunday for game three against the State College Spikes on Pittsburgh Pirates Day presented by Advanced Heating and Cooling. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
