Black Bears pitchers make strong case in series sweep of Keys

Jul. 7—GRANVILLE — Boosted by pitching and defense, the West Virginia Black Bears completed the sweep over the Frederick Keys on Wednesday, with the Bears pitching staff of draft-hopefuls putting their abilities on display at Mon County Ballpark in a 4-3 win.

Coming into their season finale against the Keys, the Black Bears rode effective pitching and defense throughout their five game win-streak, allowing more than two runs only once — an 8-4 win over the Keys on July 4 — and when paired with a three-run fifth inning Wednesday, those tools were once again enough to build the Bears' streak to six.

Matthew Tieding, who joined the Bears by way of San Jacinto College, drew the start Wednesday and allowed just one hit, walked none, and struck out one. Tieding showed off plenty of vertical movement in his arsenal, and the Keys struggled to barrel his pitches.

Vanderbilt's Brett Hansen (2.0 IP, 2K, 0H, 0ER) earned the win, West Virginia Mountaineer Chase Smith (2.0 IP, 1K, 1H, 2ER) worked the seventh and eighth, and fellow Mountaineer Trey Braithwaite (1IP, 2K, 2H, 1ER) closed out the game for a save.

Good pitching is something the Black Bears have made a habit of — five of the seven Bears drafted to the MLB last year were pitchers. With 10 days until the start of the 2022 draft, good performances like Wednesday's can only help some of the current Bears' cases. Tieding's ERA dropped to 1.70 after the outing, while Hansen and Braithwaite's now stand at 2.57 and 2.70.

Savier Pinales (1-3, 2B, BB, R, RBI, 2SB), Gehrig Anglin (1-2 BB, R, RBI, SB) Ryan Hernandez (1-4 2B, RBI) and Cameron Gurney (2-3 RBI) powered the offense for the Bears. West Virginia had 11 hits and five stolen bases on the day.

The opening innings of Wednesday's game were encouraging for Bears' pitchers, but frustrating for Bears' hitters. Frederick couldn't get anything going on offense, while West Virginia couldn't get quite enough.

A first inning double smoked off the bat of Blaze Brothers seemed to bode well for the Bears, but he'd be stranded after back-to-back pop-outs.

The Bears mustered only one other hit before the fifth inning. But in the fifth, the lid finally came off.

West Virginia has made a habit of exploding in a single inning lately, scoring four runs in the second inning of their Tuesday victory, and scoring three runs in the fifth on Wednesday.

Sam Antonacci started things off with a leadoff single to left, and the Bears followed it up with a hit-and-run that worked out just right for them.

Wright State's Gehrig Anglin poked a grounder right to where the Keys second baseman would've been — but the defender had already moved to cover second base on the attempted steal. West Virginia ended up with men on the corners and no outs.

Catcher Cameron Gurney's sacrifice fly broke open the night's scoring for the Bears, and soon Anglin replaced Antonacci at third, swiping second and advancing to within 90 feet of home plate on a passed ball.

Gonzaga's Savier Pinales grew the Black Bear lead with a double to right-center that scored Anglin, and he himself stole third the next at bat. The Keys had Pinales on the throw, but he dodged the tag attempt to his left hand, sliding in and grabbing the bag with his right hand.

A couple batters later, with a man on first in addition to Pinales at third, first baseman Ryan Hernandez crushed a double to left-center and brought home Pinales for a 3-0 lead.

As for West Virginia's effort to keep the lead, Chase Smith ran into some trouble in the seventh. Smith coaxed a ground out to start the frame, but a rare throwing error from within the infield put a man on first. Frederick's Carlos Guzman grounded into a fielder's choice for the second out, but a walk and wild pitch put runners on second and third with catcher Diego Castillo up to bat.

Smith rose to the occasion, striking out Castillo to end the inning.

The Mountaineer came back out for the eighth and once again got himself into a jam with two walks to open the inning. After a brief mound visit, Smith responded by forcing four ground balls from the next four batters.

The first was a ground out back to the mound that moved the runners to second and third. Then, a sacrifice groundout from Harold Coll put Frederick's first run on the board. A weak grounder from Dominic Freeberger up the middle just barely made it past Pinales' diving glove, and the second hit of the Keys' day was a RBI single that cut the Bears' lead to one.

The next ground ball was the hardest-hit of the inning, but shortstop Sam Antonacci managed to scoop it moving away from first, set his feet, and deliver a laser for the final out.

The Bears came through on the rare occasions they faced pressure in the series finale — in the fourth inning, when Frederick had men on first and second with one out, Pinales fielded a tough chopper up the middle, managed to toe-tap second base for one out, and make a falling-away throw to first for the 4-3 inning-ending double play.

The thieveries continued for the Bears in the eighth, with Marek Chlup swiping third base and coming home on a sac fly from Anglin to extend the West Virginia lead, 4-2. The Bears would end up needing that run.

One West Virginia University hurler passed the ball to another for the ninth-inning save opportunity, with Trey Braithwaite taking the mound. Braithwaite started strong with a three-pitch strikeout, but gave up a single to Plastiak — not on a hard-hit ball, but a soft dribbler that Plastiak beat out. A passed ball moved Plastiak to second, but Braithwaite punched out another batter, and the end was in sight.

Frederick's Nander De Sedas finally came through for the Keys with a shot to left field for a RBI single that brought his team within one, but a ball smashed directly into the dirt for a 2-3 groundout ended any comeback hopes and delivered a Black Bears victory.

Putting the Keys behind them, West Virginia gets a day off Thursday before traveling to take on Mahoning Valley for a three-game series starting Friday.

Reach Nick Henthorn at 304-367-2548, on Twitter @nfhenthorn_135 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.