West Virginia rallies to beat TCU 6-4 and claim series
West Virginia rallied scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat TCU 6-4 and claim the series inside Wagener Field at Kendrick Family Ballpark on Senior Day Saturday afternoon.
The Mountaineers trailed 4-3 entering the eighth but a pair of wild pitches with runners at third base and a Sean Smith single allowed West Virginia to take their first lead of the game and then close things out.
Right-hander Chansen Cole earned the start for the Mountaineers and pitched 5.0 innings allowing four earned runs on six hits with eight strikeouts. Reese Bassinger pitched well in relief from that point keeping the Horned Frogs off the scoreboard and allowing just two hits to record the win.
The Horned Frogs got on the board first with a leadoff single by Colton Griffin that was doubled in by Nolan Traegar to take an early 1-0 lead with only one out but Cole was able to halt the damage from there.
In the bottom of the first, back-to-back singles by Gavin Kelly and Paul Schoenfeld created traffic on the base paths for the Mountaineers but both would be left stranded.
Cole walked a hitter, but struck out three in the second to keep the score at 1-0 and West Virginia would only generate a single base runner on a walk in the bottom half.
The Horned Frogs would add to their lead in the third when after a walk, Kyuss Gargett hit a two-run shot to left field to make the score 3-0 in favor of the visitors. West Virginia would get one of those back after a Matt Ineich double, Kelly narrowly missed a home run which turned into a triple to cut the deficit to 3-1.
Then still with no outs Schoenfeld dropped in a single to plate Kelly to make the score 3-2. The Mountaineers would then load the bases with two outs ending the day for Zack James and while Ben Lumsden would give it a ride to the warning track it would be caught to end the inning.
Cole would keep the Horned Frogs off the scoreboard in the top of the fourth permitting just a walk. Then Tyrus Hall would lead off the bottom of the fourth with a home run to tie the game at three erasing the early deficit.
The top half of the fifth had some hard hit balls by the Horned Frogs, but Cole was able to get an assist from his outfielders including a fantastic catch by Schoenfeld that likely saved a run to keep it at 3-3. The Mountaineers would then go down quietly in their half of the fifth.
TCU would regain the lead in the top of the sixth after a single, a sacrifice and then another single to move ahead 4-3 and that would be it for Cole. The right-hander Bassinger then took over to get the final two outs of the half inning. But the Mountaineers would be unable to score in the bottom half of the inning.
Bassinger would keep the Horned Frogs off the scoreboard in the top of the seventh but the Mountaineers wouldn’t be able to cut into the lead with the score remaining 4-3 heading into the eighth in the rain.
The run would continue in the eighth as Bassinger was three up, three down giving West Virginia another opportunity to cut into the one-run deficit. And that they did.
The first two hitters in the bottom of the eighth would reach for the Mountaineers and then a sacrifice would put them into scoring position. A wild pitch would bring Brodie Kresser home to tie the game at 4-4 and move the next runner to third. After a walk, Kelly would step up with runners at the corners and another wild pitch would allow Brock Wills to score and give the Mountaineers a 5-4 lead. Smith then added to the big inning with a single to push the edge out to 6-4.
Bassinger would then close things out with three outs.
The Mountaineers finish the regular season at 37-13 and 21-9 in the Big 12 Conference and will be the second seed in the league tournament. West Virginia will begin play Thursday.
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