West Virginia’s struggles late in the regular season carried over to the start of the Big 12 Baseball Championship.
Less than a week after suffering a three-game sweep at Texas that cost the Mountaineers their first outright Big 12 title and led to them being a No. 3 seed in the league tournament, West Virginia was upended by Texas Tech 6-2 Wednesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
The Mountaineers (39-17) were in prime position to host a NCAA Regional in the late stages of the regular season, but after faltering against the Longhorns and again Wednesday against the Red Raiders, the prospects of staying home to start the postseason appear bleak.
WVU will take on No. 2 Oklahoma State in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Cowboys lost earlier Wednesday to No. 7 Oklahoma, while top seed Texas was beaten by No. 8 Kansas, meaning each of the top three seeds faces elimination Thursday.
Freshman David Hagaman earned his first start on the mound for WVU. He suffered the loss after allowing four runs and six hits over four innings. Hagaman struck out seven and walked a pair, but Texas Tech (38-19) was in front throughout after scoring two runs in the second inning and one apiece in the third and fourth.
Not until Caleb McNeely’s solo home run in the fourth inning did the Mountaineers score. Tevin Tucker’s seventh-inning sacrifice fly provided WVU with its other run.
The Mountaineers’ four-game losing streak is their longest this season.
Gavin Kash and Austin Green each homered in the victory, which went to Mason Molina. He limited West Virginia to one run on four hits over six innings. Molina had six strikeouts and issued three walks.
Brandon Beckel threw the final three frames to record the save.
Texas Tech faces Oklahoma on Thursday.