The West Virginia Black Bears are a

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operate ...

team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Granville, West Virginia, and play their home games at Monongalia County Ballpark, which is across the

Monongahela River The Monongahela River ( , )—often referred to locally as the Mon ()—is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-c ...

from Morgantown and

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

. From 2015 to 2020, they were a Minor League Baseball team of the New York–Penn League. They were the Class A Short Season affiliate of the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

from their inception until MLB's reorganization of the minors after the 2020 season. In August 2014, it was announced that the

Jamestown Jammers The Jamestown Jammers were a minor league baseball team based in Jamestown, New York from 1994 until 2014. The team was the Short-Season A classification affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates and played in the New York–Penn League. The team playe ...

would cease operations and move to Morgantown. On October 22, the team announced that they would be named the "Black Bears" following a fan vote, as the

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bea ...

is the state animal of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

. Other finalists included Black Diamonds, Canaries, Coal Kings, Coal Sox, Energy,

Moonshine Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...

rs,

Musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket graduall ...

s, Wild Ones, and Wonder. In January 2015,

Wyatt Toregas Wyatt Reeder Toregas (born December 2, 1982) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) catcher who played for the Cleveland Indians in 2009 and for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2011. He is also the former manager of the Mississippi Braves, ...

was named as their inaugural manager. The Black Bears won the New York–Penn League wild card in their inaugural season. The team then defeated the

Williamsport Crosscutters The Williamsport Crosscutters are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and play their home games at Muncy Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field. From 1994 to 2020, they were ...

and the

Staten Island Yankees The Staten Island Yankees were a minor league baseball team located in the New York City borough of Staten Island from 1999 to 2020. Nicknamed the "Baby Bombers", the Yankees were the Class A Short Season affiliate of the New York Yankees and pl ...

to win the 2015 New York–Penn League Championship. On February 24, 2022, Leighann Sainato was named General Manager.

Roster

Season-by-season record

MLB Draft League

References

External links

* {{Morgantown, West Virginia Baseball teams established in 2015 MLB Draft League teams New York–Penn League teams Professional baseball teams in West Virginia Sports in Morgantown, West Virginia Pittsburgh Pirates minor league affiliates 2015 establishments in West Virginia