FORT WORTH, Texas — Coach Jim Schlossnagle was “super embarrassed” by TCU’s loss to West Virginia on Friday night. His team delivered a more satisfying turnabout Saturday.
The Frogs’ lineup delivered 13 hits in a 10-4 victory that leveled the series, aided by WVU pitchers issuing nine walks and a bases-loaded hit batter.
Ivan Gonzales hit a three-run homer and Kyle Gray added a solo shot — his team-leading 14th of the year — but the Mountaineers (26-22, 8-12) must win their final four Big 12 games to acquire a .500 conference record. Having dropped five consecutive road series in league play, they must take Sunday’s rubber game to snap the streak.
Conner Shepherd had a homer and an RBI single for TCU (28-19, 9-10), which got its leadoff hitter aboard in six of eight at-bats.
West Virginia starter Kade Strowd (4-5), pitching in his hometown of Fort Worth, faced only eight batters in his shortest outing of the season. The sophomore was charged with three runs in 1 1/3 innings, the last two scoring on Josh Watson’s two-out single after reliever Jackson Wolf entered.
Wolf, Cody Wood and Christian Young each yielded two runs as West Virginia utilized six relievers. Conner Dotson made his first Big 12 appearance in more than 13 months, deliver 1 2/3 scoreless innings while circumventing two hits and a walk.
Jake Eissler (5-1) enjoyed a 5-0 lead with two outs in the fourth until a walk and Tyler Doanes’ single preceded Gonzalez hitting an 0-1 pitch over the left-field wall.
Making his second start, Eissler allowed four runs on seven hits over 5 1/3 innings. Charles King allowed one hit the rest of the way to earn his first save.
Gray’s 14 homers are tied for sixth-best in program history and the most by a Mountaineers players since Jedd Gyorko’s record-tying 19 in 2010.