MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia baseball team fell to No. 5 TCU 9-1 on Sunday at Monongalia County Ballpark.
In the series finale of the three-game set, the Mountaineers took a 1-0 lead before the Horned Frogs scored the final nine runs of the ballgame. WVU (15-21, 6-12 Big 12) tallied one run on six hits with an error, while TCU (33-10, 15-3) recorded nine runs on 15 hits with no errors.
TCU’s Luke Savage earned the win on the mound, while sophomore right-hander Jacob Watters took the loss for the Mountaineers, dropping his record to 3-1 on the year.
“At this point in the season, it’s all about how well you pitch it, hit it and throw it,” WVU coach Randy Mazey said. “It doesn’t have anything to do with what is going on in the dugout. It has everything to do with what’s going on in the batter’s box, the pitcher’s mound and on the field.”
Freshman left-handed pitcher Ben Hampton didn’t allow a run in his 5 1/3 innings on the mound. The De Pere, Wis., native allowed seven hits, struck out five and didn’t walk a batter on 83 pitches in the no decision.
West Virginia took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning when sophomore outfielder Victor Scott hit a sacrifice fly to deep center, scoring redshirt sophomore infielder Alec Burns.
In the sixth, Watters came on in relief of Hampton to try to get out of a jam. With runners on the corners and one out, TCU grounded into an inning-ending double play to help WVU maintain the one-run lead.
From there, though, the Horned Frogs scored two in the seventh, three in the eighth and four in the ninth to break the game open. TCU took all three games of the series in Morgantown this weekend.
Six different Mountaineers combined to produce the squad’s six hits in Sunday’s loss. Of note, junior outfielder Austin Davis finished with eight hits on the weekend, including a pair of doubles.
Next up, WVU welcomes in rival Pitt for the renewal of the Backyard Brawl at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Monongalia County Ballpark.
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