Staten Island Yankees Recap: Black Bears Win Title With 3-1 Win Over Baby Bombers

By Ricky Keeler |

Last night, the Staten Island Yankees played Game 2 of the New York-Penn League Championship series against the West Virginia Black Bears (Pittsburgh Pirates). The Baby Bombers sent first round pick James Kaprielian to the mound to try to force a deciding game three. Staten Island had a 1-0 lead after six innings, but the Black Bears rallied with a tying home run by Carlos Munoz in the seventh and a two-run homer by Casey Hughston in the ninth to win the game, 3-1, and win their first championship in their inaugural season (franchise was in Jamestown last year).

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This season, the Staten Island Yankees went 0-5 against the Black Bears, but all five games were decided by three runs or less. I asked manager Pat Osborn after the game about how some of the close battles these two teams had this year:

“They can flat out pitch,” said Osborn. “They’re tough… They deserved it because they were just a little better than us. I knew when we played them in the season and they swept, I left there [West Virginia in July] saying that was the best team we had seen all year and I knew we would probably meet up with them again at some point this season. Credit to them and they did a heck of a job.”

Even in a loss, the standout of the game was Kaprielian. The former UCLA pitcher, who is called “Big Game James” by his manager, struggled in the first inning as he walked two batters and threw 25 pitches, but he settled in and put together another quality outing. He went 6.1 innings, gave up no runs on three hits, struck out six, and walked two on 77 pitches (51 strikes). I asked Kaprielian after the game about how he would evaluate his outing:

“I struggled and made some mistakes. I had to change my approach a little bit. Eventually, as the game started going, I started pitching to contact a little better and trying to put zeroes on the scoreboard. I wanted to do my best to give these guys an opportunity to stay in the game and win. I did okay, but personally, I need to make adjustments sooner,” replied Kaprielian.

Osborn would tell me after the game about Kaprielian that “he’s glad he got to experience him and what he can do. He’s got a bright future.”

The game would remain scoreless for the first four innings, but the Yankees would score first in the bottom of the fifth against starter Dario Agrazal. Jhalan Jackson led off the inning with a solo shot to right center to give Staten Island a 1-0 lead. It was Jackson’s first home run since August 6 as he has been batting injuries throughout the second half of the year.

“He’s got a bright future,” replied Osborn about Jackson. “He’s been dealing with a back problem and fouled a ball of his shin, but I’m glad I played him tonight. This is a kid that I think everyone will be watching and following for the next couple of years because he has the chance to be an All-Star impact type player.”

With the exception of the Jackson home run, Staten Island did not do much damage against Agrazal. The Black Bears’ right-hander went five innings, gave up one run on three hits, struck out nine batters, and walked one in the no-decision.

Kaprielian would get the first out of the seventh and Staten Island would turn to James Reeves to face Carlos Munoz. The Black Bears’ first baseman would hit a 3-2 pitch off Reeves over the right field fence for a game-tying solo shot. Munoz scored four of the Black Bears’ six runs during this series.

Staten Island had a chance to break the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the eighth when they put runners on the corners with one out against Cesilio Pimental, but reliever Juiio Eusebio and got Zack Zehner to strike out swinging (his fourth of the night) and Trey Amburgey to ground out to third to end the inning. As a whole, the Black Bears’ pitchers struck out 16 Yankees in this one and the bullpen had seven strikeouts and gave up three hits over the final four innings.

In the top of the ninth, Ke’Bryan Hayes would reach base via a one out single against reliever Josh Roeder. Then, Casey Hughston would deliver a two-run homer to right center to give the Black Bears a 3-1 lead. Eusebio would get the win for the Black Bears while Roeder took the loss for the Yankees.

I would like to thank the Staten Island Yankees for giving us the opportunity to cover their games this season. It’s been a great season and I look forward to see what these players do down the road as they continue to move up in the Yankees’ system.

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