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No. 17-ranked and fourth-seeded West Virginia (36-18) earned a 5-1 win over seventh-ranked and top-seeded Texas Tech (37-16) during the Big 12 Tournament Thursday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
The Mountaineers and Red Raiders engaged in a close contest for most of the evening until West Virginia pulled away after adding two runs during the eighth inning and one in the ninth.
West Virginia right-handed pitcher Alek Manoah pitched eight innings, allowed four hits, one walk, one earned run and struck out 10 during the win as five different Mountaineer players accounted for an RBI.
For Texas Tech, right-handed pitcher Caleb Kilian allowed two hits, two earned runs, one walk and struck out nine in seven innings on the mound.
The two teams went scoreless through the game’s first two innings as Texas Tech stranded two runners on base during the first inning and West Virginia left a runner on base during the second.
Texas Tech then managed to get on the board first during the bottom of the third with a sacrifice fly from Brian Klein which scored Gabe Holt from third base and gave the Red Raiders an early 1-0 lead.
This lead was short-lived as the Mountaineers took a 2-1 lead with the help of a two-run fourth inning. Brandon White was hit by a pitch to start off the inning and was brought home with an RBI triple by Darius Hill. Hill then scored thanks to a sacrifice fly by Marques Inman.
The Red Raiders got runners on first and second during the bottom half of the fourth after Cameron Warren was hit a pitch and Kurt Wilson singled to right field. The Mountaineers got out of the inning with a foul out and back-to-back strikeouts by Manoah.
After West Virginia was turned away in the fifth, the Mountaineers maintained their one-run lead with a double play and Manoah’s seventh strikeout of the game.
The Mountaineers went down in order for the third time of the game to start off the sixth and during the bottom of the inning, Texas Tech got a runner all the way to third in Wilson. The Red Raiders were turned away again after a diving catch by White ended the inning.
White came up with another critical, diving catch during the seventh inning and West Virginia added to its lead during the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly from Tevin Tucker which scored Kevin Brophy from third base and an RBI single by White, scoring T.J. Lake from second.
Manoah was back on the mound for the eighth and threw another scoreless inning to preserve West Virginia’s three-run lead.
The Mountaineers added another run during the ninth with an RBI double by Ivan Gonzalez and in the bottom of the inning, right-hander Sam Kessler closed the game out for West Virginia.
With the win, the Mountaineers advance to the Big 12 Tournament semifinals for the fourth straight year and will face the winner of Friday’s Texas Tech-Kansas matchup Saturday at 10 a.m. ET.
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