The Mountaineers Stomp Horned Frogs with Mercy Rule

Morgantown, WV – The West Virginia Mountaineers (29-11, 8-4) pummeled the TCU Horned Frogs (22-18, 7-8) with a 17-7 eight-inning mercy-rule decision Saturday afternoon, marking the first series sweep over TCU in program history.

“We’ve played really good in the Big 12 since we’ve been in the league against everybody except TCU,” said West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey. “They’ve had our number for a long time, but we won two out of three last year at their place and they won the league, and to sweep them here, that’s five out of the last six, that’s really, really hard to do. They’ve got a tradition over there.”

West Virginia’s patience at the plate in the second inning put the game’s first runs on the board. Caleb McNeely led off the inning taking the 2-2 pitch to the hip, Ellis Garcia singled and Grant Hussey worked a walk to load the bases. Then, with two outs, Sam White hit a sharp ground ball over to third, but TCU first baseman Cole Fontenelle could not handle the throw and allowed a run to score, and Tevin Tucker received an RBI walk to give the Mountaineers an early 2-0 lead.

TCU put a run on the board in the top of the third after consecutive walks to lead off the inning setup and RBI single from Tre Richardson.

The Mountaineers got the run back in the bottom half of the inning, and it started with Dayne Leonard ripping a leadoff double and an opposite field line drive for an RBI single pushed the Mountaineers lead back to two, 3-1.

West Virginia exploded with an eight-run fourth inning while TCU trotted four different arms out to the mound, highlighted by a two-RBI single from Dayne Leonard and All-American candidate J.J. Wetherholt returned to the lineup to pinch hit for designated Nick Barrone after missing five games with a hand injury and he picked up right where he left off smacking a three-RBI double as the Mountaineers took a 11-1 lead.

We made a trial run this morning, we brought some pitchers out and he took some live at bats to see if he was ready. Didn’t want to start him, didn’t want to tax him – the situation was perfect, up by five and of course when he left, we were up by eight. That’s just J.J. being J.J., so that’s encouraging. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow because that was a pretty big day of swinging for him. So, don’t know if he’ll be available on Tuesday or not, we’ll wait and see.

Cole Fontenelle lifted a grand slam in the fifth and Elijah Nunez hit a two-run home run in the sixth to get the Horned Frogs within four, 11-7.

The TCU pitching woes continued in the eighth. After walking the bases loaded, Ellis Garcia drove a line drive to left field, leaving Landon Wallace midway to third and watching Jake Duer charging for the ball but the ball popped out of the glove on a diving effort, it scored a run but the throw to third for the force out was in time for the second out of the inning.

Sophomore Grant Hussey continued the inning with a three-run home run. Braden Barry followed with a drive into left centerfield for a double and Wetherholt delivered another RBI single. Next, Sam White received a four-pitch walk. Wetherholt stole third and Tevin Tucker gave the Mountaineers a 10-run advantage with an infield single, ending the game on the mercy-rule as West Virginia completes the sweep of TCU with a 17-7 win.

West Virginia is back in action Tuesday night as the Mountaineers will look to get revenge against the Penn State Nittany Lions with the first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.

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