West Virginia 8
Cyclones 3
Aug. 10 in West Virginia
Cyclones pitchers Jose Carlos Medina and Cannon Chadwick got rocked on the mound, surrendering 11 hits and eight runs between the two of them as the Cyclones lost to the Black Bears.
The Clones were the first ones on the board. Jeremy Vazquez doubled to right before Jose Miguel “Funky Cold” Medina followed with a double to score Vasquez.
The Black Bears scored in each of the next three innings. With the bases loaded, Deion Stafford singled and Franklin Correa made a throwing error to score Julio De La Cruz, Jared Oliva, and Austin Meadows to make it 3–1 in the third. In the fourth, De La Cruz singled with runners on second and third to score Bligh Madris.
Manager Edgardo Alfonzo replaced Medina with Chadwick hoping that would stop the Black Bears’ bats, but the move backfired. Meadows reached first after striking out on a passed ball before Deon Stafford doubled to score Meadows. After Lucas Tancas singled to advance Stafford to third, Madris singled to score Stafford and advance Tancas to second. Robert Glendenning then singled to score Tancas before De la Cruz singled to score Madris to make it 8–1.
The Clones still fought valiantly late in the game. Franklin Correa singled then Leon Byrd followed that with another single to move Correa to third. Correa and Byrd then made a delayed double steal attempt that got Byrd out but scored Correa in the eighth.
In the ninth, Quinn “Chief” Brodey singled, stole second, then advanced to third off a wild pitch before Jeremy Vazquez hit a sacrifice fly to score the Chief to make it 8–3, but that was the last run the Cyclones scored.
The loss puts our boys at 15–34, dead last in the McNamara Division and nine-and-a-half games behind the Hudson Valley Renegades, who sit second to dead last.
But help could be on the way from the big club in New York.
On Saturday night, Mets’ fireballer Matt Harvey will take the hill for the Cyclones in a rehab assignment in Hudson Valley. It will be Harvey’s first-ever start for the Brooklyn club.
The Cyclones face those Renegades in Hudson Valley tonight at 7:05 pm.
