Big 12 Baseball Saturday Six-Pack: West Virginia Beats TCU While Texas and Oklahoma State Sweep
Is there anything better than cold beer and baseball? It’s a combination that is hard to beat during the season. No matter what kind of beer you drink (or how many), let’s take a look at some of the best action on the Big 12 baseball diamond from Saturday with a nice six pack.
Best Game
West Virginia at TCU
With both teams each winning a game, these two played a rubber match on Saturday to determine a series winner. West Virginia is already a lock to make the postseason, but this game was extremely important for TCU as they tried to get to .500 in conference play.
The Mountaineers got on the board early as Reed Chumley and Grant Hussey came up with key hits to bring in a pair of runs.
It wasn’t until the sixth inning when TCU finally scored their first run of the game thanks to Chase Brunson.
Sam White added another run for West Virginia before Reed Chumley hit a three-run bomb to give West Virginia a 6-1 lead in the top of the eighth.
But TCU wouldn’t go down easily. Payton Tolle hit a sac-fly in the bottom of the eighth to pull the Frogs within four. The ninth inning is where things got wild. Chase Brunson’s two RBI double made things interesting, and Jack Arthur singled to bring in another run. All of a sudden, it was a 6-5 game.
Luckily for West Virginia, Luke Lyman came in and got the save with runners on the corners.
It was a great series win for West Virginia and a nice confidence booster before the Big 12 tournament next week.
Best Win
Texas over Kansas
I know Oklahoma won the Big 12, but is there any team hotter than Texas right now? They just swept Kansas and won their sixth straight Big 12 series. It seems like the Longhorns are clicking on all cylinders and that is exactly what you want to see if you are a Texas fan. It’s always the teams who are hot at the end of the regular season who end up making a run in the postseason.
Worst Loss
TCU
I mentioned earlier that the Horned Frogs really needed to win this series to help their postseason chances. Their loss to West Virginia put them at 14-16 in Big 12 play when they had a chance to get to .500 or better after their win on Thursday night. Some people may have TCU in the field of 64 but I think they are a bubble team at this very moment and will need to win a game or two in the Big 12 tournament next week.
Saturday MVP
Oklahoma State LF Nolan Schubart
Nolan had a big day for the Cowboys in their doubleheader on Saturday. He finished with a whopping eight RBIs including this two-run bomb in the first game.
Pitcher of the Day
Oklahoma State RHP Brian Holiday
Brian had a career day on the mound. He pitched a little over eight innings and only allowed two runs. Brian also managed to strike out 14 batters which gave him his fifth double digit strikeout game of the season.
Best Home Run
West Virginia 3B Reed Chumley
Reed hit a huge three-run home run in the eighth inning against TCU. It turns out that they needed every bit of that to win the game.
Full Scoreboard
#17 Oklahoma State: 20, Houston: 3 (game one)
#17 Oklahoma State: 9, Houston: 2 (game two)
Texas: 9, Kansas: 7
West Virginia: 6, TCU: 5
UCF: 10, Baylor: 8
BYU: 12, Kansas State: 8
