Mountaineers Hold off Horned Frogs in the Series Opener 5-4

West Virginia notches series opening win over TCU

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (27-11, 6-4) grabbed the series opener over the TCU Horned Frogs (22-16, 7-6) Friday night 5-4 in front of the sixth largest crowd in Monongalia County Ballpark history. WVU junior Ben Hampton collected the win to improve to 4-1 on the year while junior closer Carlson Reed picked up his fourth save of the season. 

Junior Landon Wallace put the Mountaineers on the board in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run blast well over the left field wall, extending his hitting streak to 12. 

"The kid is such a competitor. He needs to calm that down some when he’s in the batter’s box but what a great kid, what a great competitor," said West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey. 

Apr 21, 2023; West Virgina junior Landon Wallace (left) celebrates his two-run in the first inning with teammate Tevin Tucker / Julia Mellett - Sports Illustrated: FanNation - Mountaineers Now

TCU answered in the top of the second after WVU starting pitcher Ben Hampton put two aboard with consecutive walks, then a pickoff attempt at second went high, advancing the runners to second and third. Then, Karson Bowen lifted a high sacrifice fly ball to centerfield for the RBI to get the Horned Frogs within a run, 2-1. 

West Virginia added three runs in the fourth when Grant Hussey slapped a leadoff bunt over to shallow short, Logan Sauve received a one-out walk before freshman Sam White blasted a three-run home run to give West Virginia a 5-1 advantage. 

With two outs and runners at second and third, Kurtis Byrne hit a blooper over the first base the head of first baseman Grant Hussey, dropping into play for a two-RBI double to get the Horned Frogs back within two. 

West Virginia closer Carlson Reed came into the game in the top of the seventh with one out and two on and he began his evening picking off Tre Richardson at second. He walked one but former WVU right fielder Austin Davis was able to bring a runner across with a slice down the right field line for an RBI double to cut the Mountaineer lead down to a run, 5-4.

Reed knuckled in and retired seven consecutive Horned Frogs to close out the game as the Mountaineers took game one 5-4. 

"Carlson is our guy. He’s been our guy the whole season," said Mazey. "He’s been a starter, so he can go three, four, five innings if needed and he got better as he went. The changeup wasn’t in the zone the first inning, the slider wasn’t in the zone much – he’s been so good this whole year and he’s really starting to enjoy that moment and that’s something that’s pretty hard to teach to be good when the game is on the line." 

West Virgina will look to clinch the series in game two Saturday with the first pitch set for 4:00 p.m.

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