Jun. 21—Late-inning heroics were plentiful Sunday afternoon at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point, as the Johnstown Mill Rats and West Virginia Miners each captured a come-from-behind victory to split a Prospect League doubleheader.
In the opener, the Miners jumped out to an early four-run advantage before the Mill Rats eventually tied it with two runs in the sixth. Johnstown then completed the comeback on Ben Newbert’s walk-off solo homer in the bottom of the seventh that gave the Mill Rats (6-16) a 6-5 win and end a six-game losing skid.
The nightcap saw Johnstown carry the momentum from that dramatic finish to an 8-2 second-inning lead, but West Virginia subsequently chipped away at that deficit and eventually rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh to come away with a 10-8 triumph to keep the Miners (12-9) within two games of the East-Ohio River Valley Division first-place Champion City Kings.
“This ballpark is hitter-friendly,” said Miners manager Tim Epling. “These were two good ballgames that the fans got to see today.
“We’ve been putting up a lot of runs, and we got some good pitching to finish out the second game. Good teams find a way to win and make things happen.”
Johnstown hitting coach Greg Kocinski served as acting manager due to Parker Lynn’s suspension for an ejection in the Mill Rats’ previous contest, and Kocinski was encouraged by how his club broke out of its slump.
“We played pretty well today, even though the second game didn’t shake out in our favor,” Kocinski said. “We hit the ball well, and our pitchers battled.
“You just can’t get too high or too low in this game, because you see how fast things can turn around.”
Mill Rats pitcher Dylan Brosky improved to 3-0 with the complete-game victory in the opener, but the Miners got to him for a pair of runs in each of the first two innings. Juan Familia and Denver Blinn led off the game with consecutive hits, and Pat Mills followed with a run-scoring single to make it 1-0.
Johnstown then turned a 6-4-3 double play before Mac Danford’s two-out RBI single that scored Blinn.
In the top of the second, Brendan Williams led off with a single and scored on David Meech’s one-out double down the left-field line. Blinn’s two-out double then brought in Meech to make it 4-0. Blinn finished with three of the Miners’ 12 hits in the opener.
Johnstown got back in the game with three runs after two outs in the bottom of the third.
Damian Yenzi drew a walk, Newbert singled and both runners came home on Tyler Dellerman’s triple into the right-field corner. Nick Hess’ double then scored Dellerman to pull the Mill Rats within one.
The Miners got one run back in the top of the fourth when Familia scored on Blinn’s two-out infield single, but that proved to be the last West Virginia run of the contest as Brosky surrendered just two hits over three scoreless innings the rest of the way.
In the bottom of the sixth, consecutive hits by Hess and Pete Capobianco and a walk to D.J. Alexander loaded the bases with one out for Johns- town. Andre Good’s single to left scored Hess, and Cameron Walker followed with a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 5-all.
That set the stage for Newbert in the bottom of the seventh. Newbert led off and hammered a 1-2 pitch from Miners reliever Thomas Braybrooks over the left-field screen to cap off a 4-for-4 effort at the plate and send his team rushing out of the dugout to congratulate him as he crossed the plate.
“I told my teammates if I was in that situation, I was going to swing as hard as I could,” said Newbert.
“I fought off the two previous pitches, and when I saw the last one come in, I took a chance on it.”
West Virginia began the second game with two runs in the top of the first as consecutive doubles by Blinn and Meech were followed by a one-out run-scoring single by Malik Williams.
Johnstown responded with four in the bottom of the frame and four more in the second. Dellerman’s one-out double scored Walker and Yenzi to tie the game, and consecutive doubles by Hess and Pete Capobianco made it 4-2 in the Mill Rats’ favor.
Newbert blasted a three-run homer off the center field light tower in the bottom of the second, and Dellerman followed with a solo shot over the left-field screen to put Johnstown up 8-2, but West Virginia got right back in it with four runs in the top of the third.
Williams led off with a ground-rule double and scored on Jake Reifsnyder’s sacrifice fly. Danford then reached on an error. With two outs, catcher Bradley McLean, who was hitting just .156, launched a two-run homer over the screen to pull the Miners within three.
Familia kept the rally going with a single, and scored on Meech’s double to make it 8-6.
The Miners cut the deficit to one in the fourth on Kenneth Melendez’s two-out run-scoring single, and the margin stayed that way until the top of the seventh.
McLean led off with a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Brendan Williams. One out later, Blinn walked and Williams scored on Meech’s fourth hit of the game to tie it at 8-all.
Blinn then scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch, and Mills followed with a run-scoring single to set the eventual final.
Winning pitcher Myles Daniels, who finished the game with four innings of hitless and shutout relief, struck out the final two Mill Rats batters to close out the win.
The two teams will meet again in Beckley on Tuesday.