Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team dropped a 5-3 game to No. 5 TCU on Saturday afternoon at Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown.
 
In the middle game of this weekend's three-game series, the Horned Frogs never trailed in their second straight win over the Mountaineers. WVU (15-20, 6-11 Big 12) finished with three runs on 10 hits with one error, while TCU (32-10, 14-3 Big 12) tallied five runs on seven hits with no errors.
 
TCU's Austin Krob was credited with the win on the mound, while sophomore left-handed pitcher Jake Carr took the loss, dropping his record to 1-4 on the year. River Ridings earned the save.
 
Carr dished out a pair of strikeouts in the first, before he got TCU to strand a runner at third base in the second and tallied a 1-2-3 third inning.
 
In the fourth, though, the Horned Frogs took a 1-0 lead on a bases-loaded walk. TCU added two more in the fifth, spelling the end of Carr's day. The Mountaineer southpaw allowed three runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks on 91 pitches and 4.0 innings of work.
 
After TCU made it a 4-0 game in the top of the sixth, West Virginia got on the scoreboard for the first time in the bottom half when redshirt sophomore infielder/outfielder Alec Burns recorded an RBI ground out.
 
Then, WVU got within two in the bottom of seventh, thanks to senior catcher/outfielder Paul McIntosh's RBI single to make it 4-2. From there, the visitors bumped the lead back to 5-2 with a run in the eighth, moments before Burns hit his first career homer, a solo shot to left, in the bottom of the frame.
 
The Amherst, New Hampshire, native finished 1-for-3 with two RBI in his first start of the 2021 campaign.
 
"That's the first home run we've hit since the Sunday game at Baylor (on April 11)," WVU coach Randy Mazey said. "That happens to be my favorite play on offense. We put Burns in there to see what he could do, and he hit a homer, so he'll be back in there tomorrow."
 
Trailing by a pair of runs, the Mountaineers went in order in the ninth.
 
Along with Burns, junior outfielder Austin Davis enjoyed a four-hit day to lead the Mountaineers at the plate. Sophomore catcher/infielder Matt McCormick also added a pair of hits in the setback.
 
Following Carr's exit, sophomore right-hander Skylar Gonzalez (0.2 IP), junior left-hander Adam Tulloch (1.0 IP), redshirt sophomore right-hander Daniel Ouderkirk (1.2 IP) and freshman righty Carlson Reed (1.2 IP) all saw action out of the bullpen. The group didn't allow a hit and combined to throw seven strikeouts.
 
Next up, the Mountaineers and Horned Frogs conclude their three-game set on Sunday afternoon at Monongalia County Ballpark. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. ET.
 
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