WVU Baseball Suffers Another Tournament Hickup in Loss to TCU

WVU Baseball lost 5-2 in their opening game of the Big 12 Tournament, suffering an upset loss at the hands of No. 9 seed TCU.

The No. 4 seeded Mountaineers put together plenty of chances, but struggled to come up with decisive hits. After dropping a home series to West Virginia to close the regular season, the Horned Frogs faced no such qualms on Tuesday.

“When that happens, the team who lost the series has a little bit of momentum going into the series because they’re playing as the underdog so to speak,” Mountaineers head coach Randy Mazey said on Monday in his pre-tournament news conference. “And if you could get your team to play as the underdog every game, you’d win most games.”

Reed Chumley drilled a leadoff double in the second, but TCU starter Caedmon Parker retired the side to leave the Mountaineers empty handed.

The Horned Frogs struck back with a one-out triple from Brody Green. Estridge induced a groundout to second base, placed just well enough for Green to put TCU ahead.

Logan Sauve and JJ Wetherholt tried to start a two-out rally with consecutive walks, but Sam White went down swinging to end the threat.

Horned Frogs Take Control

Estridge loaded the bases in the fourth, walking in a runner to end his day. Maxx Yehl entered in relief, then loaded the bases himself the following inning, allowing a run to cross on a double play ball.

The Mountaineers flashed their speed in the bottom of the fifth, beating out a pair of infield ground balls that could’ve turned into two outs. Instead, they kept the inning, setting up a two-run homer from Sauve Logan, but TCU tacked on another run the following frame, pushing the deficit to 4-2.

See ya!!@SauveLogan with a two-run 💣 to get the Mountaineers within one!#HailWV pic.twitter.com/6UaU5ZQKqP

— WVU Baseball (@WVUBaseball) May 21, 2024

West Virginia’s defense kept them in the game in the seventh. Skylar King robbed a home run in center field, then Grant Hussey ran down a pop up in foul territory, turning and firing to Sauve at home to spark a rundown for the double play.

Sauve doubled with one out in the eighth and the top of the order up, but West Virginia couldn’t scrape another run across. Instead, a leadoff homer in the ninth pushed TCU’s advantage to 5-2 before the Mountaineers went down in order to end the game.

WVU Baseball will face No. 6 seed Kansas State at 10 a.m. EDT on Wednesday with their season on the line. They took two of three from the Wildcats in their final home series of the regular season.