West Virginia Sweeps Spikes in Granville

GRANVILLE, W. Va. - On a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Monongalia County Ballpark, the West Virginia Black Bears completed the sweep by defeating the State College Spikes 8-5.
The Black Bears knocked the Spikes off their first-place pedestal in the NY-Penn League during the course of the sweep, as both teams now share a 6-4 record to begin the season.
West Virginia jumped on the visitors early with a five-run first inning. CF Matt Gorski started things off with a two-run double to build an early lead, and SS Jared Triolo followed up by blasting his first career home run beyond the left field fence to bring home another pair for the home team.
Triolo said hitting his first professional home run in front of the home crowd was relieving feeling.
"It was pretty cool to do that today," said Triolo. "It felt good off the bat, so that was nice."
State College went on to hit 2B Cory Wood with the bases loaded, bringing another run home to situate the score at 5-0.
Black Bears starter P JT Brubaker made his second rehab appearance and fared well through four innings. The righty allowed just three hits and one unearned run in his time on the mound, walking three batters and striking out another.
That unearned run came on a Spikes double and a fielding error, as the away team got on the board in the top of the second to make it a 5-1 ballgame.
State College climbed back in the top of the fifth to plate two more runs. A bases loaded walk and an RBI groundout cut West Virginia's lead to just two runs.
In the bottom half of the inning, Black Bears 1B Nick Patten responded with a two-run blast of his own, putting his team up 7-3 with four innings left to play. The homer is Patten's second of the season, as he now leads the team in both long balls and RBIs (8) through ten games.
The Spikes brought in another pair of runs on a double in the top of the sixth, but Patten came right back up in the bottom of the frame to crank an RBI-single into left field, putting the score at 8-5.
West Virginia turned to P Noe Toribio to keep State College at bay in the final three innings, and that's exactly what he did. The righty didn't allow a single hit, striking out two batters and walking two others on the way to his first save of the season.
The Black Bears have a day off before heading to New York for a three-game series with the Batavia Muckdogs. First pitch for Tuesday's game is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.