Mountaineers welcome Horned Frogs and familiar face on Friday

After a big mid-week win over Pitt at PNC Park, the West Virginia Mountaineers will now set their sights on the TCU Horned Frogs. The Mountaineers will welcome the Horned Frogs into Morgantown for a three-game conference set at Monongalia County Ballpark.

Despite not being in the national rankings, TCU currently sits at 22-15 on the season with a couple early resume-building wins against No. 4 Vanderbilt and No. 5 Arkansas. In Big 12 play, the Horned Frogs have won two series’, while also dropping two series’. To open Big 12 play, TCU dropped two out of three games at Oklahoma, but bounced back with a home sweep of Kansas, a team that took two of three games from WVU in Morgantown. In their latest Big 12 series’, TCU lost two games of three at No. 16 Texas Tech and won two of three against Oklahoma State at home.

This series will have a bit of an emotional toll to it, as former four-year Mountaineer Austin Davis will make his return to Morgantown. After hitting .313 with 64 stolen bases at West Virginia, Davis transferred down to Fort Worth to join the Horned Frogs for the 2023 season. This season, Davis is hitting .257 with seven home runs and 29 runs batted in.

As many Mountaineer fans know, the hitting slash is not the only strong suit for the Orlando, Florida native, as Davis’ speed and steady glove makes him one of the strongest outfielders in the conference. Davis had multiple spots on ESPN as a Mountaineer with insane catches and home runs robberies in the outfield. Davis proved he still has that big-play ability, as the now Horned Frogs outfielder made a spectacular grab while crashing into the right field wall in an early-season game at Minute-Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros.

While Davis is always a threat, TCU features a few other bats that could hurt the likes of Ben Hampton, Blaine Traxel, and Robby Porco. Infielder Brayden Taylor leads the way in homers and runs batted in for the Horned Frogs, as the junior has hit 13 balls out of the park while driving in 35 runs as a .286 hitter.

Another threat for the Horned Frogs is a three-man combo that all hit over .300 in more than 100 at-bats. Starting off is infielder Anthony Silva, who leads the team with a .362 batting average. Silva also five home runs and 20 runs batted in on the season. Next up, is infielder Cole Fontenelle. Fontenelle hits .331 with nine homers and 33 runs batted in. Yet another strong infielder at the plate for TCU is Tre Richardson. Richardson is currently hitting .310 with two homers and 20 runs batted in.

While TCU is strong at the plate, West Virginia comes in with a 26-11 record and winners of three of their last four games. The Mountaineers are doing so without the efforts of one of the top offensive producers in America, as second baseman JJ Wetherholt suffered a wrist injury in Friday’s win at Oklahoma State.

Despite the loss of Wetherholt, there are still players stepping up and producing runs for head coach Randy Mazey, and those are Braden Barry, Caleb McNeely, Landon Wallace, and Dayne Leonard. 131 runs have been driven in between these four players, and all of them are currently hitting over .270, with McNeely and Wallace both hitting over .310.

Another x-factor for the Mountaineers without Wetherholt in the lineup is shortstop Tevin Tucker. Tucker has the second highest batting average on the team, as the graduate senior is currently batting .368 and made a multitude of tough plays in the field against Pitt on Wednesday.

The expected starting pitchers for the Mountaineers is Ben Hampton, Blaine Traxel, and Robby Porco. Despite success throughout the season, Hampton and Traxel shared some struggles against the Kansas Jayhawks over Easter weekend. Both Hampton and Traxel gave up seven hits, while Hampton surrendered four runs, and Traxel gave up seven.

Despite the tough outings against Kansas, both Hampton and Traxel came back with better stuff in Stillwater against Oklahoma State. In Friday’s matchup against the Cowboys, Hampton pitched six innings, giving six hits, but holding the Cowboys to three runs with only one walk in a winning effort. As for Traxel, the Cal State Northridge transfer pitched well, but not as long as expected against Oklahoma State. Traxel went 3.2 innings, giving up five hits and two runs. Traxel also came in in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s game to close the door on the Pitt Panthers.

West Virginia and TCU will meet in Morgantown at Monongalia County Ballpark. Friday’s game will take place at 6:30 p.m., while the Saturday matchup with be at 4 p.m. The rubber match of the series will be at 1 p.m. on Sunday. All of the action can be viewed on ESPN+.