West Virginia baseball used dominant fourth and seventh innings to complete the series sweep of TCU by a final score of 17-7.
Relief pitcher Noah Short got the win to move him to 2-0 on the season. Robby Porco got the start and pitched 4.1 innings with six strikeouts.
Porco started out strong with a strikeout swinging and two groundouts to retire the first inning side in order. West Virginia didn’t manage anything offensively and there was no score after the first inning.
TCU got the first base of the game in the second inning when Austin Davis was hit by the pitch. They didn’t muster anything else, and the Mountaineers got on the board when Sam White got an RBI base hit with an error from TCU’s Cole Fontenelle and Tevin Tucker walked with the bases loaded to make it 2-0 after two innings.
The Horned Frogs got on the board in the third inning when Tre Richardson hit an RBI single to right field to cut the deficit to 2-1. West Virginia managed to extend that lead when Grant Hussey hit an RBI single to left field to make it 3-1 after three innings.
West Virginia retired the side in order defensively, then added eight runs offensively in the fourth. TCU went through five pitchers as West Virginia got a double RBI single from Dayne Leonard, an RBI hit by pitch from Grant Hussey, an RBI walk from Braden Barry, a triple RBI double from JJ Wetherholt, and a sac fly from Sam White.
JJ Wetherholt got a standing ovation as he returned to the lineup for the first time in a week as a pinch hitter. He also stole third base as West Virginia extended the lead to 11-1 after four innings.
TCU wouldn’t go away, as they loaded the bases and Cole Fontenelle hit a grand slam to left field to cut the deficit to 11-5 in the fifth inning. The Mountaineers switched to Noah Short after the grand slam defensively and offensively only mustered a base hit single from Dayne Leonard as the score remained the same after five.
The Horned Frogs would continue to rally as Elijah Nunez hit a two-run home run, with West Virginia switching to David Hagaman at pitcher. West Virginia only managed a base hit single from Braden Barry as the lead was cut to 11-7 after six innings.
With TCU still trying to rally in the seventh inning, they only managed a base hit single from Austin Davis as three other batters struck out.
West Virginia created separation offensively from there, as Ellis Garcia hit a sac fly to left field, Grant Hussey hit a three-run home run to right center field, JJ Wetherholt hit an RBI single to right field, and Tevin Tucker hit an RBI single to second base to extend it to 17-7.
The 10-run rule meant that the game was over once Tucker hit the RBI single to score JJ Wetherholt.
The win improved the Mountaineers to 29-11 on the season, with the loss dropping the Horned Frogs to 22-17. The next game for West Virginia is at home on Tuesday against Penn State, with the first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.
