GRANVILLE, W.Va. – The West Virginia Black Bears erased an early four-run deficit but came up just short in a heartbreaking sudden-death loss to the Williamsport Crosscutters on Wednesday night.

Williamsport jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening two innings before the Black Bears answered in the bottom of the third. Owen Petrich led off with a single before Owen Henne and Kahanu Martinez followed with base hits. Martinez drove in Petrich to put West Virginia on the board, and Walker Barron added an RBI single later in the inning to trim the deficit to 4-2.

The Black Bears continued to chip away in the fourth as Beau Sylvester launched a solo home run to left-center field. The next at-bat, Ben Barrett tied the game with a solo blast of his own. Marcus Bradshaw came around to score later in the inning on an RBI single by Henne to give West Virginia its first lead of the night at 5-4.

The Crosscutters answered in the top of the fifth, using a walk, stolen base and RBI single to even the score at five. From there, both bullpens settled in as neither team managed to break through over the next four innings.

West Virginia threatened in the sixth by loading the bases with one out, but Williamsport escaped the jam with back-to-back strikeouts to keep the game tied. The Black Bears' defense came up with several key plays late in the game, including a double play at the plate in the ninth to send the game into sudden death.

With the tiebreaker in effect, West Virginia manager Tim Garland elected for offense, but the Black Bears were unable to capitalize. Pinch runner Tilden Garland took to first as Beau Sylvester stepped to the plate. Garland was picked off on an attempt to steal second, but the walk of Sylvester put a Bear on base. Barrett struck out looking on a full count before Tarpley advanced to first on another walk from pitcher Myles Meyer. With two runners on, Petrich swung for the fences but struck out to end the game.

Despite the loss, the Black Bears showed resilience by battling back from an early four-run deficit behind multi-hit performances from Henne and strong offensive contributions from Martinez, Barron, Sylvester and Barrett. The Bears return home Thursday evening for game one against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and their final home series of the first half of the season. First pitch for game one of the two-game series begins at 6:30 p.m.