Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY – The West Virginia University baseball team saw its 2018 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship run come to an end on Saturday afternoon with a 7-3 loss to TCU at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
The Mountaineers (29-27) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but the Horned Frogs (33-22) scored all seven of their runs in the fourth inning to advance to the Big 12 championship game. Sixth-seeded TCU will face fifth-seeded Baylor on Sunday.
WVU advanced to the Big 12 Championship semifinals for the third consecutive season and finishes the 2018 postseason tournament with a 2-2 record. The championship run included wins over second-seeded Oklahoma State on Wednesday and third-seeded and No. 6-ranked Texas Tech on Friday night.
"It's amazing; every year when we come down here, I think we show everybody that we're just like everybody else," WVU coach
Randy Mazey said. "We're very capable of beating every team, and we feel like we're as good as anybody in this conference. You can go back and pick a game or two out of the season that could've gone either way, and all of a sudden, you're sitting at 32-33 wins with an RPI, and you're in the conversation of having a postseason. Just like every season that we don't make it, we feel like we've been that close, and that's the story of this season, too, just that close.
"Our Achilles' heel all season got us today with walks and putting up crooked numbers. They scored all seven in one inning, and you just can't do that. I'm super proud of these guys the way they grinded it out at the end. What these guys have put on the field this year has been amazing."
Junior right fielder
Darius Hill, an All-Big 12 Second Team honoree, led the Mountaineers with three hits and two runs scored, while junior second baseman
Kyle Gray, who was named to the All-Big 12 First Team, had two hits and was one of three players with an RBI.
Sophomore right-hander
Kade Strowd got the start and suffered the loss. In 3.2 innings, he allowed five runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks. Sophomore righty
Alek Manoah was one of three WVU relievers and held TCU to just three this with five strikeouts in the final 4.1 innings.
For the third time in four games this week, and the 32nd time this season, West Virginia scored first, with a run in the second to take a 1-0 lead. Gray led off the inning with an infield single and took second on a walk. He scored on junior shortstop
Jimmy Galusky's single to right.
Strowd stranded a runner in the first, second and third inning, with three strikeouts in the third.
TCU got on the board in the fourth, scoring seven runs on five hits against Strowd and three WVU relievers to take a 7-1 lead. With the bases loaded and one out, back-to-back walks brought in two runs. With two outs, senior right-hander
Shane Ennis relieved Strowd and gave up a two-RBI double, and freshman righty
Tristen Hudson also gave up a two-RBI double. Manoah then came in and gave up an RBI double before getting a foul-out to end the inning.
The Mountaineers responded with a run in the top of the fifth to cut the deficit to 7-2. Hill led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on a double down the left-field line by Gray and scored on a groundout by freshman designated hitter
Tyler Doanes.
Manoah followed with a 1-2-3 fifth inning, and he struck out two in the sixth, as junior catcher
Ivan Gonzalez threw out a runner at third to help him face the minimum.
West Virginia added another run in the seventh to make it 7-3. Hill again led off the inning with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. Gray drove him home with a sacrifice fly to right.
Manoah gave up a one-out double in the seventh, but two strikeouts in the frame helped keep TCU off the scoreboard in the inning. He followed with a perfect eighth inning, on just eight pitches.
NOTES: West Virginia concludes the 2018 season with a 29-27 record … WVU is 10-10 all-time at the Big 12 Championship and 7-5 in the last three years … WVU advanced to the Big 12 Championship semifinals for the third consecutive season, one of two teams to achieve the feat … West Virginia scored first for the third time in four games this week and the 32nd time this season.
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