Frederick Keys and West Virginia Black Bears Combine for First Tie in MLB Draft League History

By: JJ Michalski

Frederick MD - The Frederick Keys, despite the largest offensive explosion of the season, tied the West Virginia Black Bears 5-5 in a 9-inning game on Thursday night.

Major League Baseball Draft League announced on Thursday morning in a statement that no extra inning games would be played in 2021. The statement reads:

“The nature of the MLB Draft League is to provide potential prospects with a competitive development-based environment, where they can be evaluated by Major League clubs for the upcoming draft. In addition, it is important that we create an environment focused on their health and safety. As a result, we will not conduct any extra innings games in this year's Draft League. The sole basis of this decision is to make sure that we don't put any unnecessary stress on the arms of these Future Stars.”

The Black Bears started off strong in the first inning, with a home run from Ranko Stevanovich that he blasted over the right field wall. West Virginia bats fell silent after the 2nd inning after a single by Jesse Pierce.

Keys pitchers Peyton Zabel and Ronan Kopp held the Black Bears scoreless following the home run until the 8th inning when Kopp was removed. The two pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts in their first appearances with Frederick.

The game remained 1-0 until the 6th inning. The Keys came close to scoring in the 5th but Alex Ulloa was caught stealing second base to end the inning. He would exit the game with an injury.

Leading off the 6th, Nick Hernandez blasted a ball over the left field wall to tie the game at 1-1. Anthony Herron Jr, Lucas Torres Vazquez, and Kameron Wells all walked to load the bases. Following a strikeout by Rene Lastres, Dominique Collie entered for his first at bat of the night. Collie fisted a ball down the left field line bringing home Herron and Torres Vazquez. Hector G. Nieves singled in the next at bat to score Wells. Collie was brought home on a sac fly by Eddie McCabe who entered for the injured Ulloa. The Keys scored five runs in the inning to take a 5-1 lead.

In the 8th Shane Barringer took the hill for the Keys in his first appearance. He started off with a strikeout but then issued two walks and a bases clearing triple to Eli Hammill. The triple brought the game to a 5-4 Keys lead.

The 9th inning brough excitement as Francois Castillo took the mound looking for his first save. After hitting Stevanovich with the first pitch of the inning, Torres-Vazquez threw out Amari Bartee, who pinch ran, trying to steal second base. With one out, Castillo gave up a single to Jason Thomas. Thomas moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on a fly ball. He would come home to score on a balk with two outs in the 9th to tie the game at five.

The Keys were retired in order in the bottom half of the inning and ended the game there.

Frederick is back in action this weekend against the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. They will play Friday and Saturday at 7:05 PM and on Sunday at 4:05 PM. For more information on the Frederick Keys please contact JJ Michalski at [email protected].