Heading into Saturday afternoon, West Virginia was the only power five team that had not lost three games in a row over the past two seasons. Heading into the weekend, all the Mountaineers needed to do was win one game and earn themselves the outright Big 12 title.
West Virginia was denied the outright title and suffered their first three-game losing streak since 2021, as Texas completed a sweep of the Mountaineers, finishing it off with a 6-3 victory.
In WVU’s first two losses to the Longhorns this weekend, it was the first inning which hurt the Mountaineers. That would not change in game three, despite the Mountaineers having who they wanted on the mound.
Head coach Randy Mazey saved his ace — Ben Hampton — for the biggest game of the year. Hampton would not get out of the first inning against the talented Texas lineup.
Hampton gave up a single, bunt single, and then a double to Dylan Campbell which opened the scoring. Hampton would then give up a sacrifice-fly, before walking the next two hitters and forcing Mazey to go to his bullpen.
Mazey turned to Aidan Major to try and limit the damage, but Major could only do so much. With one out and the bases loaded, Jalin Flores delivered a two-run single, putting the Longhorns ahead 4-0 after the first inning.
Hampton’s final line was 1/3 innings pitched, while giving up three hits, four runs, and walking two. The damage off of Major continued in the second and third, as he gave up back-to-back hits leading to a run in the second inning, before surrendering a home run to Flores in the third.
West Virginia’s offense would be quieted by Tanner Witt. Witt — who was making his fourth appearance since recovering from Tommy John surgery — blanked the Mountaineers across three innings.
West Virginia had their best chance off of Witt in the third. Sam White doubled, before Tevin Tucker walked, putting runners on first and second with no outs. JJ Wetherholt would continue to struggle as he flew out before Landon Wallace struck out looking to end the threat.
Trailing 6-0, West Virginia got on the board with a Braden Barry home run in the fourth. Wetherholt then had Tucker on base, but would be troubled by Texas pitching again, flying out to end the fifth.
West Virginia’s offense came alive again in the seventh inning, started by the bottom of the order. Caleb McNeely singled to start the inning, before White hit a two-run home run, putting WVU down three. Tucker would be hit by a pitch, with the middle of the order coming up again, but Wetherholt would ground into a double play to end the inning.
On the weekend, Wetherholt went a combined 2-for-13 and dropped his average from .466 to .447 by the end of Saturday’s game.
David Hagaman bridged the gap between the early struggles from West Virginia’s pitching staff to the back of their bullpen in Carlson Reed. Hagaman put up three scoreless innings, striking out one, and giving up just one hit.
Reed gave up one run in the eighth, as Garrett Guillemette scored one on a single to left field, adding to Texas’ lead, putting them ahead 7-3.
The Mountaineers would put two runners on base in the ninth but would not score any of them with Tucker grounding into a double play to end the game.
What this means
WVU and Texas share the Big 12 crown and Texas earns the No. 1 overall seed in the Big 12 Tournament. This also almost surely knocks WVU out of top-eight contention for now, with the Mountaineers needing to most likely win the Big 12 Tournament to get back in that discussion.
What’s Next
The Big 12 Tournament gets underway from Arlington, Texas, on Wednesday. The first round pairings are to be announced.
