West Virginia opened up a four game series tonight in Lakewood with a 6-2 win over the BlueClaws. The Power pounded out 14 hits and a combination of four pitchers allowed just five hits.
Tyler Glasnow, facing Lakewood for the fourth time this season, was dominant in an outing cut short by a long rain delay. He ended up going four innings, allowing just one hit, which came on his first pitch of the game. Glasnow walked two, struck out three and at one point, he retired nine batters in a row. He was topping out at 96 MPH, using all of his pitches and getting some soft contact when the ball was put in play.
For the four game series, I’m going to summarize the top prospects to watch, then give my thoughts on them after the series is done. For most of them, this is the second series I’ll be seeing, so I’ll be able to go back and compare them to how they did last time.
Tyler Glasnow Looks Good In Abbreviated Outing
Tyler Glasnow gave up a line drive double into the left-center gap on his first pitch of the game. The second pitch ended up as a fly out to left field. He went full count on the third batter, walking him on a 96 MPH fastball. Glasnow went full count on the fourth batter too, striking him out for the second out. He got the final out on a 76 MPH curveball looking.
In the second inning, Glasnow walked the lead-off batter. Things went smooth for him from here on out. He got the first out on a one-pitch flyout to center field. The next batter hit a soft bloop to right field that Josh Bell made an excellent sliding catch on. The third out came on a soft grounder to shortstop. It was a quick inning after the first batter.
He started the third off with a swinging strikeout on a high fastball. The next batter hit a weak grounder back to Glasnow for an easy out. The third out was on the first pitch, soft grounder to shortstop.
In the fourth, Glasnow got a groundout to second base to start the inning, as rain began to fall. The next batter grounded out to shortstop on an 0-2 pitch. The final batter swung at the first pitch and lined out to center field. At this point the rain got real heavy and after a delay of more than an hour, Glasnow was done.
The Hitting Prospects
Barrett Barnes struck out swinging in his first AB leading off the game. He was injured last time West Virginia came into Lakewood so I didn’t get to see him. In his second AB, he had a pop out to first base. Facing a new pitcher in the fifth inning, Barnes was walked in his third AB. He came up with two men on in the seventh inning and had a long at-bat that ended with him dumping a single into right field that tied the score. Barnes would steal second base and on the throw, Francisco Diaz scored the go-ahead run when the ball got away from the second baseman. In his fifth time up, Barnes struck out swinging.
Dilson Herrera followed the Barnes first inning strikeout with a strikeout of his own. In his second AB, he hit a soft grounder to second base. His rough day continued, with a fifth inning strikeout to end the inning. Things then turned around for the second baseman. Herrera drew a four pitch walk in his fourth plate appearance, then in his fifth trip to the plate, he hit a hard single up the middle that scored the Powers fifth run.
Josh Bell continued the first inning trend, going down swinging on three pitches, the last was close to hitting his back foot. He worked the count to 3-0 in his second AB, then after a called strike, he grounder out to third base. Bell grounded out softly to the pitcher in his third AB. He struck out again in the seventh inning, this time looking. In the eighth inning, he lined out sharply right at the shortstop.
Eric Wood became the fourth of five straight batters to strikeout swinging for the Power. After a Jordan Steranka hit, Walker Gourley made it five outs by swinging strikeouts. Wood was hit by a pitch in his second AB. He singled his third time up, a ball that got by the right fielder and went all the way to the wall. Steranka tried to score from first base on the play, but he was out by a lot. Wood flew out to right field in his fourth plate appearance, ending the three-run seventh inning. His fifth time up, he hit a sky high pop up to third base for an out.
Game Notes
*Jordan Steranka wasn’t here last time I saw West Virginia. He replaced Stetson Allie in the lineup when the latter was promoted to Bradenton. He was batting cleanup and had a nice line drive single in his first AB. Steranka was thrown out stealing following his single and it wasn’t close. In his second AB, he hit the ball hard the opposite way between SS and 3B. Steranka had the third hit for West Virginia as well, a hard single past the first baseman. His fourth hit of the game scored the Power’s third run.
* Clario Perez followed Glasnow and got in trouble in the sixth inning, partially due to a misplay by Barrett Barnes in center field. Barnes took a step back, then stumbled on a ball that landed well in front of him. Perez then walked three straight batters to give up the first run of the game. He was replaced by Bryton Trepagnier, who got out of the bases loaded jam without allowing another run.
* Trepagnier struck out the side in the seventh inning. He retired the side in order in the eighth.
* Francisco Diaz drove in the fourth run for the Power. Walker Gourley bunted for a hit, then stole second and third base, scoring on a single from Diaz.
* Jonathan Schwind drove in the sixth run with an RBI double in the ninth that scored Gourley from first base.
* Kyle Haynes finished off the game, allowing a run on two hits.
