No. 3 Horned Frogs walk in two runs in ninth, lose baseball series to West Virginia

No. 3 TCU lost the rubber match of a three-game series with Big 12 foe West Virginia, walking in two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to hand the Mountaineers a 5-4 victory Sunday afternoon.

The first-place Horned Frogs (28-7, 9-3 Big 12) appeared poised for another comeback victory. They rallied for a 4-3 lead after the Mountaineers (21-13, 8-4) scored twice in the third.

TCU closer Durbin Feltman started the ninth with a strikeout. Then Feltman hit a batter and walked the next three for his first blown save in 19 chances. Cal Coughlin got the second out on a strikeout before walking Darius Hill to force in the winning run.

TCU could only hope for a tie after the first run scored because a 3:30 p.m. Eastern NCAA travel curfew made the ninth the final inning.

The Frogs, who maintain a two-game lead over WVU and Texas Tech in the Big 12 race, had won 68 straight games when leading after eight innings dating to 2015.

Multiple scoring chances were wasted. TCU had four runners erased on the base paths and stranded 11 more, six of which were in scoring position.

In the fourth, trailing 3-1, TCU’s Nolan Brown doubled in Luken Baker and sent Josh Watson to third. Watson scored on a wild pitch before Connor Wanhanen singled in Brown for a three-run inning and the lead.

Wanhanen’s RBI single in the second had scored Baker for a 1-1 tie.

West Virginia scored in the first with the aid of a TCU throwing error.

This story was originally published April 16, 2017 at 3:19 PM with the headline "No. 3 Horned Frogs walk in two runs in ninth, lose baseball series to West Virginia."