MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Like many Big 12 hitters, West Virginia will happily bid Preston Morrison farewell after this season.
The reigning Big 12 pitcher of the year frustrated the Mountaineers during two complete-game wins last season and was at it again Saturday, throwing eight solid innings as No. 4 TCU won 6-2 to claim the weekend series.
Before a crowd of 2,107 at the Monongalia County Ballpark, Morrison’s career ERA against West Virginia (24-21, 6-11) actually rose from 0.72 to 1.09 thanks to the Mountaineers pushing across two late-game runs.
“If you want to learn how to pitch, that’s the kind of guy you watch,” said West Virginia coach Randy Mazey. “And when you go recruiting, that’s the kind of guy you look for. There’s not too many of them out there who can what he can do.”
The Mountaineers, losers in nine of their last 12 games, have dropped five straight against TCU (36-9, 12-5), who began the afternoon a half-game back of Oklahoma State in the league standings.
The Frogs scored a first-inning run on Evan Skoug’s double-play ball and used three hits to tack on five more runs in the third inning against Ross Vance (6-4).
Morrison (10-1) retired the first 11 Mountaineers batters before Jackson Cramer’s fourth-inning single.
West Virginia’s next hit didn’t come until Taylor Munden’s one-out double in the seventh, which was followed by Kyle Davis’ RBI single through the middle.
“(Morrison) is very good at sinking the ball,” Davis said. “And he’s got two different sliders—a sharper one for his out-pitch and a Frisbee one that will hang and hang and hang and look like a strike until it takes off outside.
“It’s really hard to get your timing down and stay with your approach.”
Shaun Wood added his eighth homer of the season in the eighth, only the the fourth allowed by Morrison. The lanky right-hander allowed five hits and two walks while fanning six in a 95-pitch outing.
While batting around during the five-run third, TCU scored three times on passed balls by backup catcher Garrett Hope. Vance forced in another run when he plunked Keaton Jones with the bases loaded.
“I let myself get out of rhythm. I kind of let it spiral,” said Vance, who worked six innings and was charged with four earned runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out eight.
“If I could drop one inning every game that would be great. They do that in class sometimes—drop your lowest quiz or test grade. I need to get that moved into baseball.”
Davis flattened at second: Davis collided with TCU’s Derek Odell while turning a sixth-inning double play and writhed on the infield as teammates and a trainer huddled around.
“I think it was shin-to-shin so it started turning all numb. I couldn’t feel it so I’m like it’s either broken in half or it’s just a bone bruise,” Davis said. “Then the feeling ended up coming back and I was like, ‘Well this awkward, because I looked like I just got killed and now I’m fine.’ So I jumped up to run it off, but they gave me a hard time in (the dugout.)”
Hope struggles behind the plate: After spending the fall playing fullback with the WVU football team, Hope hadn’t caught Vance much and repeatedly appeared crossed up during the nightmarish third inning.
“Vance is pretty hard to hit—he struck out eight guys—and he’s pretty hard to catch too,” Mazey said. “Balls go one way and then another way, and Garrett hasn’t caught Vance much. But he had a good at-bat (Friday) night and we wanted to get him in the game to try to get some offense.
“If it wasn’t for that one inning, he caught OK. But three passed balls in one inning for three runs, you can’t overcome that against these guys.”
Vance deflected blame from the catcher.
“I’ve got to be able to adjust better,” the left-hander said. “I didn’t work with him well enough to give him a better chance.
“I’m probably one of the more different guys to catch. Those (passed balls) are all on me. Garrett caught a good game and I let myself pull of a balls I shouldn’t have.”
On-deck Sunday: WVU will try to avoid the sweep Sunday when Chad Donato (6-4) faces Alex Young (8-2) at 1 p.m.