The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

Regional, anybody?

Monday mornings at the Gazette-Mail …

Me: Here’s something you need to start thinking about.
Boss: What’s that?
Me: Covering postseason baseball.
Boss: … you’re probably right.

West Virginia had never beaten a top-three team before this past weekend, but the Mountaineers took two out of three from TCU. They’re No. 8 in the RPI today. There were two top-four crowds at Monongalia County Ballpark over the weekend, and WVU plays Marshall Tuesday at Appalachian Power Park.

What a weekend, though. WVU took a punch to the stomach Friday and then replied with a leadoff double and a game-winning sacrifice fly. Manager Randy Mazey did a postgame interview over the stadium’s P.A. and started off by asking, “How was that?”

The Mountaineers chased a draft pick Saturday and built a 5-0 lead but couldn’t escape a shaky sixth inning and took a loss. Sunday saw a literal walk-off as TCU hit a pinch hitter with one out, walked three batters in a row to tie the score, got a strikeout and then walked in the winning run. (WVU’s bullpen recovered and chipped in 5 2/3 scoreless innings after Alek Manoah [!] got the all-important Sunday start and stretched 71 pitches into the fourth inning, which is pretty good work.)

WVU is 8-4 in Big 12 play and is the only conference team to win all its conference series. TCU is 9-3 and maintains a one-game lead over the Mountaineers and Texas Tech. The Red Raiders visit the Mountaineers May 5-7.