West Virginia's Sixth Inning Surge Clinches Series Over TCU

The Mountaineers produce six runs in the sixth inning for a series clinching comeback win against the Horned Frogs

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (28-11, 7-4) came back from a three-run deficit and exploded in the sixth inning for a 7-4 series clinching win over the TCU Horned Frogs (22-17, 7-7) Saturday evening.

TCU quickly got on the board in the top of the first when Tre Richardson smacked a line drive through the left side and then with two outs and Richardson on second, Fontenelle hit a hard ground ball down the first base line and just out of reach of first baseman Grant Hussey for an RBI double and a 1-0 Horned Frogs lead.

The Horned Frogs added a run in the second after a hard hit ball from Karson Bowen ricocheted off second baseman Ellis Garcia and past centerfielder Braden Barry as Bowen rounded second and into third to lead off the inning. Then, Logan Maxwell hit a sacrifice RBI over to second to put TCU up 2-0.

Tevin Tucker lined a leadoff double for the Mountaineers in the fourth and Landon Wallace singled up the middle to put runners at the corners. Dayne Leonard ripped a ground ball over to third, scored Tucker to cut the deficit to a run, it did, however, result in a double play.

With two outs and runners at the corners, Karson Bowen dropped a two-RBI single into left field and TCU extended its lead to three, 4-2.

In the sixth, Logan Sauve took the 2-1 pitch to the arm for a leadoff base runner, then Sam White hit a ground ball over first base and into the right field corner for an RBI triple. Tevin Tucker worked a walk and took second on a passed ball before Landon Wallace drove both runners in with a single to left field to tie the game at four. Dayne Leonard single to, again, put runners at the corners. Then, after two failed bunt attempts, Ellis Garcia blasted a three-run home run, capping off a six-run sixth inning and giving the Mountaineers a 7-4 lead.

“He's a young kid and after two bunt attempts and the count was 0-2, you can just see in his eyes that he was so disappointed that he didn’t get the bunt down,” said West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey. So, I had to tell him ‘just relax, man. You’re in the hole you got a 0-2 count you have to relax. You’re a great hitter with two strikes. Don’t worry about the bunts, you can’t worry about the bunts. They’re ancient history. You got to be a really good hitter right now.’ And, fortunately, he battled back to 2-2 and got a good pitch to hit.”

West Virginia Aidan Major stepped onto the mound in the seventh and tossed three scoreless inning and recorded four strikeouts as the Mountaineers grabbed the with the 7-4 decision. 

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