Jul. 1—Good teams can win in different ways.
A day after hitting the cover off the ball in a 14-to-4 victory, the West Virginia Black Bears (17-9-5) relied on a near-spotless performance from their pitching staff and some small ball to prevail over the Frederick Keys (5-23-2) 5-to-1.
Cam Baumann, a redshirt junior from the University of Iowa, earned the win at Monongalia County Ballpark on Wednesday, allowing a single run on three hits, striking out four and walking two through five innings.
Baumann forced plenty of weak contact in his start, inducing eight ground outs on a night where the Black Bears infield was sharp defensively.
“My philosophy when I go out there on the mound and I start a game is, first two pitches I throw, I’m letting them hit it, I’m throwing it in the zone,” Baumann said after the win. “Then if I get ahead in the count after that I’m trying to put them away. I love ground ball outs, keeps my pitch count down, I get to stay in the game longer.”
Scoring opened up in the bottom of the second, where Ryan McCoy hit the scoreboard with a solo shot, putting his Black Bears up 1-0. The first baseman/catcher has homered in back-to-back games, and leads his team in runs scored with 23.
The Keys knotted the game up in the top of the third, Ohio State’s Zach Dezenzo taking his Big-10 rival Baumann deep.
West Virginia answered back in the bottom of the third inning, but not in the same thunderous way they did on Tuesday, when they scored nine in the frame.
The Black Bears got the speedy Jeron Williams on first from a dropped-ball strikeout gone bad. He would advance to third as Garrett Spain singled and stole second, bringing up Freylin Minyety. Minyety would ground out, but Williams would score. West Virginia University’s Paul McIntosh batted-in Spain with a base hit to give the Black Bears a 3-to-1 lead.
West Virginia continued to work in runs the next two innings. Kyle Hess would come in to score in the fourth as Max Wright recorded a sacrifice fly. Wright, attending Indiana State by way of Ontario, Canada, played behind the plate, and helped his pitchers throw a dominant game against Frederick.
West Virginia got their final run in the bottom of the fifth, as Jeron Williams totaled his second run of the contest, staying alert on the base path and scoring from third on a passed ball.
Five Black Bear pitchers took the mound Wednesday, combining to allow four hits, striking out eleven. Crucially, West Virginia allowed only two free passes, a far cry from their ten-walk performance Tuesday.
Baumann started the game off strong, and the relievers took the baton and ran with it. J.P. Massey, Zach Ottinger, and Kobe Robinson all pitched an inning and sat down every batter they faced.
Massey struck out two, Ottinger— who is tied for the team lead in wins with two- needed only eight pitches to get through his three batters, and Robinson struck out the side, his fastball topping out at 99 mph.
WVU junior Madison Jeffrey took the mound in the top of the ninth, and after Dezenzo stung a leadoff double down the first base line, he retired the next three Frederick batters he saw (his fastball reaching the upper 90’s as well), striking out two Keys swinging to quash any hopes of a comeback.
“The guys we have in the bullpen are top of the line, a lot of them are going to get picked up this year,” Baumann said of the team’s pitching performance. “When I leave the game I have 100% confidence that they’re going to do their job and we’re going to win the game. If I do my job they’re going to do theirs.”
Baumann brought his ERA under 2.5 with the win, and as the season wears on, Baumann believes the Black Bears pitchers are getting better together.
“Everybody just takes a little piece from everybody else’s repertoire,” Baumann said. “And we try it and if it works for us, we keep it. Hopefully we can learn from each other, that’s the biggest thing.”
Now in sole possession of first place in the NYPL, the Black Bears will go for the sweep tomorrow against Frederick at 6:35 in Mon County Ballpark.
Bio Box
Player AB R H RBI BB SO 2B 3B HR
Garrett Spain 4 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
Freylin Minyety 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Paul McIntosh 3 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Ryan McCoy 4 1 1 1 0 3 0 0 1
Kyle Hess 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Max Wright 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Grant Hussey 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
Jake Reinhardt 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Jeron Williams 2 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 0
Player IP H R ER BB SO HR
Cam Baumann 5.0 3 1 1 2 4 1
J.P. Massey 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Zach Ottinger 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kobe Robinson 1.0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Madison Jeffrey 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 0
Reach Nick Henthorn at (304) 367-254 or by email at nhenthorn@timeswv.com.