MORGANTOWN — J.J. Wetherholt and Caleb McNeely hit crucial home runs and No. 12 West Virginia moved to within one victory of winning at least a share of its first-ever Big 12 championship with a 5-3 victory against Texas Tech on Sunday in front of 3,312 fans inside Mon County Ballpark.
The victory gave the Mountaineers (39-13, 15-6 Big 12) the series win over the Red Raiders (35-18, 10-11), who were officially eliminated from the Big 12 title race.
WVU has now won six of its seven series this season against league opponents, with a road trip to Texas on Thursday to wrap up the regular season. The Mountaineers will need just one victory in three games against the Longhorns to capture the Big 12 title and the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 tournament.
“This team is so impressive with the way they bounce back from stuff,” WVU manager Randy Mazey said. “The way we’re hitting, pitching, playing defense, we’re checking off a lot of boxes, but nothing’s finished, you can’t feel too good about it. The next game is always the most important of the year and that doesn’t change now.”
WVU’s 15 Big 12 wins set a program record and it came after Wetherholt hit a solo home run — his 15th of the season — in the fifth inning to tie the game 3-3.
McNeely, a senior playing his first season of Division I baseball after spending his career in the junior-college ranks, then blasted a two-run shot to deep center in the sixth to give the Mountaineers the lead for good.
West Virginia’s pitching, again, was stellar in the final game.
Facing a Texas Tech offense that averaged more than nine runs per game coming into the series, the Red Raiders were held to just 10 runs combined over the three games.
David Hagaman (1-1) earned his first win of the season. He was the fourth WVU pitcher used in the game, after starter Robby Porco struggled and was pulled in the first inning after not recording an out.
Noah Short came in and closed out the first inning, holding the Red Raiders to just a 1-0 lead when it could have been worse.
Hagaman entered in the fourth inning with Texas Tech holding a 3-2 lead.
He pitched 3 2/3 innings, allowing no runs and no hits, while striking out three.
That allowed the Mountaineers to get back in it.
Wetherholt’s shot to left field tied the game. He also doubled in the seventh inning, giving him his 30th multi-hit game of the season. He’ll enter the Texas series as the nation’s leading hitter with a .466 batting average.
McNeely came up in the sixth inning, after Grant Hussey singled, and blasted a shot to center field that gave the Mountaineers a lead they would never relinquish.
It was McNeely’s 12th home run of the season.
A day after hitting two home runs, Hussey added two more hits, including an RBI double in the second inning that cut Texas Tech’s lead to 2-1.
WVU’s bullpen came up big again in the eighth inning.
Carlson Reed earned his seventh save of the season, but only after pitching out of a bases-loaded jam.
After Ty Coleman reached on a throwing error with two outs, Austin Green and Dylan Maxcey walked to load the bases.
Reed then struck out Dillon Carter to end the threat. He pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two more strikeouts to end the game.
The Mountaineers enter the final week of the regular season with a two-game lead over Oklahoma State and a three-game lead over Texas and Kansas State.
One win against Texas would eliminate the Longhorns from contention, while WVU holds the tiebreakers over both the Cowboys and Wildcats.
So, if WVU would finish with the same amount of league wins as either Oklahoma State and Kansas State, the Mountaineers would still earn the title and the No. 1 seed.
Oklahoma State travels to Oklahoma to finish the regular season, while Kansas State hosts TCU. The Big 12 tournament begins May 24 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
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