Baseball drops 14-7 slugfest to WVU on Saturday afternoon

Saturday, May 7

Morgantown, W.Va.

1 p.m.

University of Texas

21-26, 9-11

West Virginia

26-19, 10-9

Texas

West Virginia

Baseball drops 14-7 slugfest to WVU on Saturday afternoon

05.07.2016 | Baseball

Box Score

The Longhorns came back from an early deficit but the Mountaineers offense did the damage in the ballgame.

Box Score

MORGANTOWN, W. Va.—Despite rallying from a five-run deficit, Texas Baseball (21-26, 9-11 Big 12) dropped game two at West Virginia (26-19, 10-9 Big 12) by a 14-7 final on Saturday afternoon at Monongalia County Ballpark.

Texas senior lefthander Ty Culbreth struggled in his shortest outing of the season, allowing six runs over 4.1 innings of work against WVU. After Culbreth got the first two outs of the second innings, the Mountaineers strung together four hits and walk to put up a four-spot to extend their lead to 5-0.

The Longhorns began their rally in the third. Travis Jones led off the frame with a triple to straightaway center field and Joe Baker followed with an RBI sac fly to give Texas its first run. Two batters later, Tres Barrera hit his fifth homer of the season to cut the WVU lead to 5-2.

In the fourth, Zane Gurwitz opened with a walk and Kody Clemens followed with a double to left-center to make it 5-3. After a Michael Cantu groundout moved Clemens to third, Jake McKenzie grounded out to the right side to score Clemens and pull the Longhorns to within one at 5-4.

The Longhorns got unlucky in the bottom half of the frame. With runners on the corners, Culbreth picked off the runner on first but the umpires ruled that the runner from third crossed home before the final out of the inning was made.

Trailing 6-4, the Longhorns rebounded once again. In the fifth, Kacy Clemens hit a one-out single and Tres Barrera was hit with a pitch to put two on for Texas. After Gurwitz drew a walk on a full count, it was Kody Clemens who came up big once again. The freshman drove an 0-2 pitch down the right field line to plate two and tie the ballgame at 6-6.

The Mountaineers answered with two of their own in the bottom of the fifth to regain their two-run lead once again.

In the sixth, Texas got one back to make it 8-7 when Kacy Clemens doubled to left to score Jake McKenzie who reached on a walk, but WVU responded in the bottom half of the frame with a four-run inning that pushed the score to 12-7.

The Longhorns went down in order in the seventh and WVU added to its lead with a solo shot to lead off the home half of the frame.

In the eighth, WVU tacked on its 14th and final run after Chase Shugart loaded the bases on walks. McKenzie moved from second base to the hill and closed out the inning with a pair of groundouts, one that made it 14-7.

Culbreth (8-4) was charged with his fourth loss of the season in the ballgame, allowing a season-high seven runs (six earned) in a season-low 4.1 innings.

Jones, Kacy Clemens and Kody Clemens added two hits a piece, while Kody led the Longhorns with two doubles and three RBI. Barrera reached four times on the day thanks to a homer, a pair of walks and a hit by pitch.