With the tying run at third base and the go-ahead run at second base, West Virginia’s cleanup batter Braden Barry stepped to the plate with a chance to swing Friday’s game on between Texas Tech and No. 12 West Virginia back in favor of the home team.
Barry worked it to a 2-2 count but would be issued his third strike of the at-bat on a pitch clock violation — ending the inning for the Mountaineers.
Those are just bad breaks. We had a couple guys on base that inning to threaten, just didn’t work out,” West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey said.
Barry would not be the only Mountaineer to leave runners on base, as West Virginia stranded 10 baserunners, while their offense compiled six hits in West Virginia’s 5-2 loss to Texas Tech in game one on Friday.
“They’re the scariest team in the league. They actually pitched better than they hit tonight, which is not like them,” Mazey said. “They’re more scary offensively than they are on the mound, but they did a good job, got a big hit when they needed it.”
It had been over a month since West Virginia struggled at the plate like they did on Friday. The Mountaineers struck out 14 times, their most in a loss since they struck out 15 times against Kansas on Apr. 7. West Virginia’s 4-5-6 hitters in their lineup combined for nine of the 15 strikeouts.
“A sign that the pitcher’s doing really well is if you swing at the balls and take the strikes and that’s what we seemed to do a lot of,” Mazey said.
Texas Tech sent Ethan Coombes to the mound, and he was able to stifle WVU’s offense.
The Mountaineers scored two runs in the second on a two-run double from Ellis Garcia. That would be all West Virginia could muster.
The Mountaineers would load the bases in the fifth for Dayne Leonard, but he would chase three balls from Coombes, ending the threat.
“Throws multiple pitches for strikes, changes speeds, uses both sides of the plate,” Mazey said of Coombes. “Does everything a pitcher’s supposed to do to control a good offensive team. We controlled them pretty well. Normally if we hold a team to five runs, we’re going to win.”
West Virginia would threaten to tie the game in the ninth, but their comeback effort would fall short. JJ Wetherholt stepped to the plate with the opportunity to tie the game, and he hit a line drive to the right fielder. Wetherholt — who came into Friday leading the nation in batting average — went 1-for-4 with a walk in the loss.
“He delivered again tonight, smashing balls all over the field,” Mazey said.
The Mountaineers will look to stay atop the Big 12 standings on Saturday with game two. The Mountaineers will face the Red Raiders with a 4 p.m. first pitch from Monongalia County Ballpark.
“Just hit the reset button and tomorrow’s the biggest game of the year just like today was and you just got to come out and do your best to win it,” Mazey said.
