West Virginia’s magic in Oklahoma City ran out Friday as the eighth-seeded Mountaineers suffered consecutive losses in the Big 12 Conference Baseball Championship that brings their season to an end.
After a 12-2 seven-inning defeat to No. 4 seed Oklahoma State moved West Virginia to the loser’s bracket, the Mountaineers gave top seed Texas all it could handle, but fell short 3-2 at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
West Virginia (25-27) fell behind the Longhorns (42-14) in the third inning without yielding a hit. Texas drew two walks, which combined with Jacob Watters hitting a batter, allowed the Longhorns to load the bases. Trey Faltine scored the game’s first run on a wild pitch, though Watters struck out back-to-back batters to keep the deficit 1-0.
“We just haven’t thrown strikes consistently the whole season,” West Virginia manager Randy Mazey said. “They weren’t any more nervous today than they were all season. We just have to get back to throwing strikes.”
Texas appeared set to add to its lead in the fourth when it drew three walks to load the bases, but Austin Davis made a highlight-worthy catch in right field to take away a grand slam from Mike Antico.
“A lot of times when you’re not swinging the bats very well and have nothing going on offense, it really helps to make a great defensive play,” Mazey said. “That momentum went from their dugout to ours in one defensive play. He does that stuff all the time. He had a tremendous year for us and is a…
