Jun. 27—One big ninth-inning comeback was countered by another on Saturday night as the West Virginia Miners rallied for four runs in the top of the frame to take a two-run lead over the Johnstown Mill Rats, but the home squad answered with three runs after two outs in their final at-bat to come away with a 7-6 Prospect League victory at Sargent’s Stadium at the Point.
The Miners’ Pat Mills blasted a two-out, three-run homer in the final inning to give West Virginia (13-12) its first lead of the night, but Johnstown (7-19) subsequently loaded the bases with no outs in the home half of the ninth. Miners’ reliever Joshua Zeboskey then fanned the next two Mill Rats batters before Sam Mast lined a ground-rule double into the right-field corner to score pinch runners Mike Whiteherse and Cameron Walker to tie the game at 6.
Jeremy Iellimo then lined a single to left — his third hit of the night — to bring home Nick Hess with the game-winning run to end a four-game losing streak for the Mill Rats and extend the Miners’ losing skid to three.
The Mill Rats grabbed an early lead with a run in the first and two more in the second. Hess’s run-scoring infield single put Johnstown on the board, and one inning later Owen Sabol’s fielder’s choice grounder scored Andre Good. Sabol then stole second and came home on D.J. Alexander’s two-out RBI single brought Sabol home to make it 3-0.
Alexander, who finished 3 for 5, added another run-scoring single in the bottom of the sixth to bring home Mast with the fourth Johnstown run.
Mill Rats starter Dylan Brosky shut out the Miners through the first six innings, but in the seventh, West Virginia loaded the bases with two outs prior to Brosky being lifted due to reaching the 95-pitch count limit. Jake Reifsnyder then reached on a two-out error to score Mac Danford and David Meech with the first two Miner runs.
Isaiah Ortega-Jones plated Chase Swain with a sacrifice fly in the ninth before Mills’ go-ahead round-tripper.
Johnstown reliever Brendan Gray picked up the win after getting the final out in the top of the ninth.
Danford and Meech each had two hits for the Miners, while Hess and Ben Newbert added three hits each for the Mill Rats, who outhit West Virginia 15-8.
The two teams will conclude the series Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m.