No. 2 Longhorns Baseball Drops Opening Game of Big 12 Tournament to West Virginia 5-1

The Texas Longhorns dropped their opening game of the Big 12 baseball tournament on Wednesday, falling 5-1 to the West Virginia Mountaineers

Matt Galatzan | May 26, 2021

The No. 2 ranked Texas Longhorns entered the 2021 Big 12 baseball tournament with momentum at their backs, winning six of their last eight games, including a series win over of the West Virginia Mountaineers in Austin.

In Wednesday afternoon's opening game, the Longhorns would find themselves matchup up with West Virginia yet again, with the underdog Mountaineers getting their revenge for the lost series in Austin in a 5-1 win at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.

Things got started early for the Mountaineers in the top of the second inning when senior first baseman Hudson Byorick hit a single shot home run to put West Virginia up 1-0.

West Virginia would then extend that lead in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly by junior Tyler Doanes, scoring freshman Alec Burns.

Senior Kevin Brophy would then extend the lead even further for the Mountaineers, scoring on a wild pitch from Longhorns pitcher Ty Madden.

Brophy was able to seal the game from there, hitting a triple in the ninth inning to score Burns once again, before scoring on his second wild pitch of the game, this time from Texas pitcher Tanner Witt.

As a team, the Longhorns scored just one run on five hits, with six players left on base, with one error.

Texas will continue its quest for its sixth Big 12 tournament title on Thursday when they once again take on the Mountaineers in an elimination game.

For the Longhorns to stay alive in the tournament, they will now have to win two straight games over the Mountaineers. However, should the Longhorns fail to win on Thursday, their tournament will be over, and West Virginia will advance.

CONTINUE READING: Longhorns RB Commit Jaydon Blue Opts Out of Senior Season

Can the Longhorns recover from their opening game loss? Comment and join in on the discussion below!

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Longhorns? Sign up for your premium membership to LonghornsCountry.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!

Follow Longhorns Country on Twitter and Facebook

Published May 26, 2021

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.