West Virginia Black Bears Take Home 2022 MLB Draft League Championship

MORGANTOWN — The 2022 MLB Draft League Championship trophy was raised at Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark Tuesday night after the West Virginia Black Bears rallied to defeat the Williamsport Crosscutters 10-6.

West Virginia reliever Grayson Thurman struck out nine consecutive Crosscutters in the final three innings in the first Major League Baseball Draft League title game, a one-game, winner-take-all showdown. The Lynchburg University standout ended his 3.1 innings pitched with 10 strikeouts on 10 batters faced.

🏆 The Black Bears are the 2022 MLB Draft League Champions 🏆

West Virginia wins the @mlbdraftleague championship over the Williamsport Crosscutters 10-6 at The Mon.

Beautiful way to end the season, boys!!! pic.twitter.com/5DPkpS1ZHY

— WV Black Bears (@WVBlackBears) September 7, 2022

The Black bears were trailing the Crosscutters 6-0 before bringing six runs across the plate in the home half of the fifth inning. They would follow-up the six-run inning with four more runs.

Former West Virginia University pitcher Zach Bravo started on the mound for the Black Bears. His two-plus innings on the mound ended four earned runs on six hits. Bravo, the only former Mountaineer on this year’s team, finished the season with a record of 4-1 and a 3.82 ERA. In 63.2 innings pitched, the most on the team, Bravo gave up 74 hits but struck out 58 batters.

🔟 SO. Like, every batter. 🔟. https://t.co/0kUWwLBOer

— WV Black Bears (@WVBlackBears) September 7, 2022

Led by West Virginia Native and former West Virginia University baseball standout Jed Gyorko, the Black Bears finished the season with a 48-30 record with the Crosscutters not far behind with a 44-31 record.