Scrappers ensure Black Bears’ debut no picnic

Staff report

MORGANTOWN, W.VA.

Anthony Santander and Emmauel Tapia hit back-to-back home runs and combined for six hits as the Mahoning Valley Scrappers beat the West Virginia Black Bears, 15-7, on Friday night.

The Scrappers collected 11 hits, including three doubles, in spoiling the Black Bears’ New York-Penn League debut at Monongalia County Ballpark.

West Virginia is the former Jamestown Jammers franchise, which moved operations to Morgantown after the close of the 2014 season.

The game, which lasted three hours and 57 minutes and featured nine pitchers between the teams, marked the return of former Major League infielder Travis Fryman as Mahoning Valley’s manager.

Santander and Tapia each had three hits. They homered back-to-back leading off the top of the third inning and Santander added a bases-loaded double in the fifth as the Scrappers built an 11-1 lead after five innings. Both Santander and Tapia had three hits.

Silento Sayles had a sacrifice fly and Willi Castro had an RBI double in the sixth to make it 13-1. The Scrappers scored twice in the seventh on an error and a groundout to make it 15-1.

The Black Bears scored five runs despite managing only one hit — a two-run double by Ty Moore — in the bottom of the seventh. West Virginia benefitted from four walks and two errors by Mahoning Valley in the inning.

Scrappers reliever James Stokes walked four more in the eighth, but the Black Bears managed only one run.

Four Mahoning Valley pitchers walked 10, including three by Ping-Hsueh Chen in one-third of an inning and six by Stokes, who worked the final 2 2/3 innings. West Virginia managed just five hits.

Casey Shane started for the Scrappers and worked four innings, allowing one unearned run. Jose Zapata earned the win with two scoreless innings of relief.

The teams meet again today at 7:05 p.m.