Long ball dooms Black Bears in 17-1 setback to Mahoning Valley
Darnell Graham
Darnell Graham West Virginia Black Bear’s Sandy Santos (27) slides into second base while Mahoning Valley Scrappers Jorma Rodriguez (34) leaps into the air to catch but misses during the game between Mahoning Valley Scrappers and West Virginia Black Bears at Monongalia County Ballpark.
William Craig (28) during pregame warm ups at Monongalia County Ballpark.
The Black Bears’ Will Craig races towards first base during West Virginia’s 17-1 setback to Mahoning Valley on Monday at Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown. Craig was the Pirates’ first-round pick on June 9 in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Wake Forest product hopes to be Pittsburgh’s third baseman of the future. Craig batted .280 in his first professional season and is eager to put on more muscle to improve his power numbers during the 2017 season.
MORGANTOWN — One game is not the by-product of a season, but if it was, West Virginia would consider its season a big disappointment in the Black Bears’ 17-1 loss to Mahoning Valley on Monday at Monongalia County Ballpark on the campus of West Virginia University.
West Virginia will not be defending its 2015 New York-Penn League Championship this season, as it won’t qualify for the playoffs, but manager Wyatt Toregas was pleased with the way his team performed down the stretch despite not making the playoffs.
“I was very happy with how we were playing the last 25 days and would have been curious to see how we would have done if we had a full season with another 76 to go, but this is short season and we did what we could and got the guys better,” Toregas said. “I think we got them in a better position for a full season next year and we’ll see where it goes.”
West Virginia (38-38) allowed four home runs in the Labor Day season finale, including three in a seven-run fourth that extended Mahoning Valley’s (37-38) lead to 12-0.
With the Black Bears already in a 5-0 hole, Todd Isaacs’ three-run homer to left-center field off Bill Roth scored Gabriel Mejia and Jonathan Laureano for an 8-0 lead. Isaacs’ blast was his sixth homer of the year. Miguel Eladio followed Isaacs with a solo shot to left field for a 9-0 advantage. Eladio’s homer was his first of the season.
Jack Goihl’s three-run blast to left-center field on a 3-2 count plated Nathan Winfrey and Mitch Longo to give the Scrappers a two touchdown lead.
Mahoning Valley added another run with the long ball in the seventh when Laurenao had a solo shot for a 13-0 lead, but West Virginia cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh with one run on two hits.
Matt Dorio singled to lead-off the inning, and after a fly out, moved to second on Erik Forgione’s single through the hole at second base. Tyler Leffler was hit-by-pitch to load the bases and Dorio scored on Ty Moore’s RBI ground out to first.
The Scrappers got the run back quickly in the eighth when Silento Sayles tripled to lead off the inning and scored when Jorma Rodriguez reached via error for a 14-1 lead. Mahoning Valley added three more runs in the inning.
Tanner Tully (4-1) picked up the pitching win after allowing no runs on two hits in five innings. He had four strikeouts and walked two in lowering his ERA to 1.17.
Jacob Taylor’s first start for the Black Bears was a disappointing one, as the righty allowed five earned runs on six hits in 1 2/3 innings of work. He had one strikeout and walked two.
The Black Bears had a stretch in the season where they lost seven in a row, six were by one run, that put the team in a big hole, as it looked to get back to the playoffs and defend its New York-Penn League Championship.
“I remember that seven-game losing stretch and who knows what would have happened if we win half of those games, but I think we would have been in the playoff picture,” Toregas said. “We had some inconsistencies during this season and we had some defensive lapses earlier in the season that haunted us as well, and we gave some games away. But these are young kids that are playing professional baseball for the first time in their lives. We have to keep on these kids and make sure they are doing OK off the field as well. The baseball part is easy for them. I believe a great deal has to do with the mental aspect.”