The battle Tuesday night at Linda K. Epling Stadium was between two teams trending in opposite directions.
Danville (12-7) came to Beckley riding a four-game winning streak, while West Virginia (5-11) was struggling through six straight losses.
Fortunately for the Miners, a much needed break put an end to their slide.
A throwing error by Dans pitcher Landon Tompkins in the bottom of the eighth inning led to three runs, lifting the Miners to a 4-2 win.
Trailing 2-1 in the eighth, Alex Christie worked a walk and Hayden Skipper followed with a single to move Christie to second with no outs.
Coby Tweeten then hit a soft roller just off the third-base side of the mound which was fielded by Tompkins.
The Dans pitcher attempted the make the play at third, but his toss went wide of the bag allowing Christie and Skipper to score easily for a 3-2 lead.
A wild pitch moved Tweeten to third where he scored on a sacrifice fly from Stephen Karis.
“Even if they do make the play, we had two more outs left. It was a pressure situation and there were certain things that the pitcher was doing that we would have timed him and tried to take away,” West Virginia manager Tim Epling said. “We played pretty well. There were some things that we didn’t do very well, but as a win, it is a good confidence builder. Danville is a very good team.”
The visitors wasted no time getting on the board to take a quick 2-0 lead.
Jonathan Thomas hit the second pitch of the game for a single before swiping second base. When the throw went into centerfield on the steal attempt, Thomas moved up a base and scored on bloop single from Drake Digiorno.
A pair of walks then stung West Virginia starter Brett Whiteman when Bryce Chance drove in a run a with a two-out single.
After the rough start, however, Whiteman settled in to hold the Dans scoreless and allow just one hit over the next three innings of work. In his four innings on the hill Monday, Whiteman struckout seven batters.
“The pitchers came through tonight and our defense was adequate,” Epling said. “There are some things that we need to work on. I want them to be aggressive and go after them and not have a fear to fail mentality. We can’t play passive. We have to play smart, but not play with fear.”
Charlie Joyce relieved Whiteman and pitched three scoreless innings allowing only one hit. Joyce pitched out of a bases loaded and two-out jam in the seventh to keep the Miners within a run.
The Dans had another chance to widen the lead off reliever Caleb White in the eighth when a walk and a two-out double set the table for Thomas.
White ended the threat by coaxing a fly ball to center to end the inning.
The Miners first run came in the sixth when Skipper hit a shot to the right centerfield wall for an RBI-double that just missed going out for a home run.
On the night, the three Miners pitchers struckout 10 batters and allowed just one earned run on seven hits.
The two teams close out the two-game series Tuesday night at 6:35 p.m.