Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 17 West Virginia University baseball team lost its first game of the postseason, with a 10-3 defeat in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship on Saturday morning at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
 
The Mountaineers (36-19) saw their six-game win streak snapped with the loss, while the Red Raiders (39-16) avoided elimination with the win and forced a second game in the double-elimination event.
 
WVU, who entered the semifinal with a 2-0 record, and TTU, which was 2-1, will meet again later today with a spot in tomorrow's Big 12 Championship Game on the line.
 
"That's a grind, both teams," WVU coach Randy Mazey said. "What these kids go through in a tournament setting like this, you work all year for this, and the kids that don't get to pitch much during the season, this is when you need them. We both have at least one game left, maybe two, and guys are going to start getting the ball that haven't pitched much. So, all the bullpens you throw and all the times you have to talk to them and keep their head up, it's why you do it for the next 24 hours here."
 
West Virginia took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Texas Tech tied it at 1-1 in the bottom of the first, and both teams added a run in the second. The Mountaineers made it 3-2 thanks to a solo home run by junior left fielder TJ Lake in the fourth, but the Red Raiders answered with four in the fifth and added two in the seventh and two in the eighth.
 
"I thought we had a chance the first two innings to break that game open a little bit, and we get a line drive to the left fielder in the first inning and a double play at home plate," Mazey said. "In the second inning, we get a line drive to the right fielder from a sac fly. We had the chance to go up 4- or 5-0 there in the first two innings, and we just didn't throw strikes. I think we put the leadoff guy on in seven of the eight innings. Six walks and a hit batter, what a disadvantage against a team that starts out with a man on first and nobody out every single inning. But it is what it is."
 
Junior right-handed starter Kade Strowd suffered the loss. In 4.0 innings, he allowed five runs on three hits with seven strikeouts and five walks.
 
WVU scored its three runs on eight hits. Junior first baseman Marques Inman had a team-high-tying two hits with an RBI, to go along with Lake's home run. Lake's home run was the third of his career, all coming this season.
 
West Virginia took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, as three of the first four batters in the game reached base. WVU's run came on a single to left by Inman, which scored sophomore second baseman Tyler Doanes.
 
TTU tied the game in the bottom of the first on an RBI single that followed a leadoff walk. Strowd escaped further damage with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning.
 
WVU came right back to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly by Doanes. That scored Gonzalez, who led off the frame with a single. Texas Tech answered again in the bottom of the second to tie the game at 2-2 on a fielder's choice groundout with the bases loaded and one out.
 
Both teams were retired in order in the third, and the Mountaineers regained a 3-2 advantage in the top of the fourth on Lake's two-out home run.
 
Strowd got consecutive strikeouts to end the fourth and leave runners on the corners, but the Red Raiders came back with four runs in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead. An RBI double scored was followed by a two-run home run by Josh Jung. Sophomore left-hander Jackson Wolf then relieved Strowd and gave up a run on a groundout. He avoided further damage with a double play to end the inning and leave a runner on third.
 
A Cameron Warren solo home run and a sac fly extended TTU's lead to 8-3 in the seventh, and the Red Raiders added two more in the eighth to make it 10-3. Freshman left-hander Beau Lowery relieved Wolf in the eighth with two on and one out and got a strikeout and a groundout around a two-RBI triple.
 
Two Mountaineer pinch hitters had hits in the ninth, but a double play and a flyout helped Texas Tech prevent a run from scoring.
 
The Mountaineers and Red Raiders will square off later today following a semifinal matchup between Oklahoma State and TCU, which began shortly after the conclusion of this morning's first WVU-TTU matchup.
 
The game will be broadcast on FOX College Sports Central, FSSW and FSMW, and on FOX Sports GO to subscribers. Fans can listen to the games on the Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG College on various affiliates throughout the state, while fans across the country can tune into the broadcast online at WVUsports.com/Watch and on the WVU Gameday and TuneIn Radio Apps. Live stats can be found at Big12Sports.com. Direct links to video and radio streams and live stats are available on the baseball schedule page on WVUsports.com.
 
Notes: West Virginia falls to 36-19 on the season, 2-1 at a neutral site and 8-6 against top-25 teams … The Mountaineers' six-game win streak was snapped, though they have won nine of their last 11 … WVU is 12-11 all-time at the Big 12 Championship and 9-6 since 2016 … The Mountaineers are 7-4 as a No. 4 seed at the Big 12 Championship, 3-1 against No. 1 seeds and 4-1 against Texas Tech … West Virginia is one of two teams to advance to the Big 12 Championship semifinal in four consecutive seasons … West Virginia pitchers had 12 strikeouts and have 543 on the season to extend its program record … Mountaineer hitters drew three walks to bring their season total to 237, third-most in the WVU record books … Darius Hill extended his school records for career games played (230), starts (230) and at-bats (924) … Ivan Gonzalez moves into sixth place in WVU history in career games played (206) and moves into a tie for ninth in hits (225) and remains in sixth in at-bats (735) and games started (194) … Tyler Doanes moves into a tie for fourth place with six sacrifice flies in 2019 … TJ Lake hit his third home run of the season and third of his career in the fourth inning.
 
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