OKLAHOMA CITY — The West Virginia baseball team fell to No. 2 Texas 3-2 early Saturday morning at the Big 12 Baseball Championship at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
The eighth-seeded Mountaineers were eliminated from the tournament with the setback. WVU finished with two runs on six hits with no errors, while the top-seeded Longhorns tallied three runs on three hits with one error. Junior right-handed pitcher Madison Jeffrey took the loss for West Virginia.
“Every time we come here, we usually play pretty well and are super competitive,” WVU coach Randy Mazey said. “This has been a good place for us to play, and I think we always play with confidence here.
“I just asked them to show me some toughness, don’t roll over and just compete as hard as they could, and that’s what they did.”
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Jacob Watters made his first career start in the loss, earning a no decision. The Rocky Gap, Va., native was electric, denying UT of a hit, while striking out eight in three innings of work. Watters threw a career-high 74 pitches and allowed one run.
Watters tallied three strikeouts in the first inning and two more in the second. Texas (42-13) loaded the bases in the third but could only muster one run on a wild pitch after the sophomore righty got two more strikeouts to end the threat.
From there, Jeffrey also got out of a bases-loaded jam without allowing a run in the fourth, as junior outfielder Austin Davis robbed a grand slam with a catch at the wall in right.
In the fifth, WVU took the lead on a two-run single by sophomore catcher Matt McCormick to make it a 2-1 game. However, the Longhorns grabbed the lead back in the sixth with a two-run double.
Texas led 3-2 after six innings.
West Virginia left one on in the seventh and went in order in the eighth, before it got the tying run to third base with two outs in the ninth. Moments later, a strikeout ended the game.
McCormick finished 2 for 4 with two RBI at the plate. Along with Watters and Jeffrey, redshirt sophomore right-hander Noah Short fanned four without allowing a hit in 2 1/3 innings pitched, while redshirt sophomore righty Daniel Ouderkirk also saw action on the mound.
WVU fell to 15-11 all-time against Texas, as well as 15-14 at the Big 12 tournament.
The loss to the Longhorns concluded the Mountaineers’ campaign. The squad finished 25-27 on the year, including 8-16 in Big 12 play. WVU won at least two games at the Big 12 Championship for the fifth consecutive tournament.
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