NILES — The West Virginia Black Bears are headed to the MLB Draft League championship game.

The Black Bears on Tuesday trailed 7-1, then scored 10 unanswered runs to defeat the Mahoning Valley Scrappers 11-8. The victory assured the Black Bears of finishing atop the Draft League second-half standings. They will travel to Trenton on Sunday to take on the Thunder, which earned the right to host the title game by logging the league’s best record in the first half of the season.

West Virginia entered Tuesday’s contest with a 4.5-game lead over second-place Frederick. Both teams have just four more regular season games left on the schedule.

The Scrappers took a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a pair of errors that put Corey King at second. King scored on a Mason Sykes triple.

The Scrappers immediately gave the run right back in the top of the second. Cam Ridley reached on an error, Ridley then stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error then scored on a fielding error.

The Scrappers then took a 4-1 lead with a three-run fifth. T.J. Reeves knocked in a pair of runs with a single and then Reeves scored on an Owen Young base hit.

One inning later, the Scrappers built what appeared to be a safe six-run lead with another three-run frame. Reeves again knocked in a pair of runs with a single.

West Virginia came back to tie the game at 7-7. Anthony Hansen led the comeback with an RBI single and a three-run homer.

In the ninth, West Virginia scored four, highlighted by a Frank Perez three-run home run.

In addition to owning the best second-half record in the league (28-15), West Virginia also owns the league’s best overall record (43-26).

The Scrappers and Black Bears continue their three-game series tonight at 7:05.

BUILDING A WINNER

West Virginia won the MLB Draft League title a year ago under manager Jedd Gyorko. The Black Bears are looking to repeat this year with first-year manager David Carpenter.

Carpenter is a native of Fairmont, (W.Va.), where he still resides. Fairmont is just 19 miles from Morgantown, where the Black Bears play their home games.

Carpenter played for West Virginia University (2004-2006), then was a 12th-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006. Two years into his professional career, the former catcher made a transition to pitcher.

Carpenter would go on to pitch in over 200 games in the Major Leagues between 2011 and 2019. He made his big league debut with the Houston Astros, finishing his rookie season with a 2.93 ERA. He later pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees and Washington Nationals.

In 2021, Carpenter began serving as the pitching coach for Fairmont State University — a role he held until taking over the Black Bears earlier this year.

“This has been a lot of fun, I’ve been blessed with a lot of really good players who are also good human beings, and they’ve made for an enjoyable summer,” Carpenter said. “We had some really good players in the first half of the season, which kind of proved itself in the draft. Then in the second half, we got a whole different group with the same attitude. These guys want to learn and they are eager to put in the hard work.

“They have made my first year as a manager an easy one.”

The Draft League is considered a showcase league primarily designed to provide an outlet for players to display their talents to MLB scouts. Still, Carpenter said that team success is important “anytime you take the field,” at any level of play.

“Winning cures a lot of ills,” Carpenter said. “Learning how to win is a huge part in the individual growth of any player. Being around a winning culture goes a long way in individual success.”

“No matter what level you’re playing, from Little League to the pros, once you cross that line and take the field, you’re playing to win. You better have that drive to win, or you shouldn’t be playing the game.”

Carpenter, who is just 38 years old, says his summer with the Black Bears has given him a strong desire to continue his journey as a baseball coach.

“More than anything, I want to teach guys how to play this game the correct way,” Carpenter said. “We’re at such a deficit right now in terms of players being taught the right way.

“A lot of these players come from colleges where coaches don’t teach good baseball. They teach their way of baseball which has limited success at the college level and even less success at the pro level. I want to take my own experience with pro ball and use it to help develop young players and give them an opportunity to learn to play this game the correct way. I want to give them the best chance possible of playing this game for a long time.”

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