The top of the Big 12 baseball standings have swung open and allowed for some late-season intrigue. TCU has gone 4-6 and done just enough to leave West Virginia in contention with two conference series to go despite dropping the past two Big 12 series.

The Horned Frogs, who dropped two of three at Monongalia County Ballpark last month, are two games ahead of the WVU, but the Mountaineers are in third place.

In second place? Texas Tech, which is a game out, which (allegedly) plays three at WVU this weekend and which just took two of three from TCU by a combined score of 28-8. The Red Raiders won the regular-season championship last season and then reached the College World Series, and as the stats up top indicate, they’re mashing the ball lately.

The Red Raiders scored 61 runs in five games last week, finishing with a 21-3 series-clinching win over TCU on Sunday in a matchup of teams that went to the College World Series last year.

“It is always fun to do that against TCU or any Big 12 school,” Texas Tech shortstop Orlando Garcia said, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. “It is a great feeling when you can’t be stopped like that and it just keeps on piling on.”

Texas Tech (36-12, 11-7 Big 12), the defending regular-season champion, is one game behind the Horned Frogs (31-11, 12-6) with two conference series remaining.

TCU, which has lost six of its last 10, got uncharacteristically poor pitching performances Sunday. Six pitchers combined to give up 20 hits and six walks, and they hit two batters and threw three wild pitches. The Frogs hadn’t given up so many runs since a 22-4 loss to Baylor in 2003, the season before Jim Schlossnagle took over as coach.

Texas Tech started the week with a 27-15 win at New Mexico, the Raiders’ most runs in a game since 1999 and most in 118 all-time meetings with the Lobos.

The big week moved the Raiders as high as No. 4 in the major polls and into the top 25 nationally in batting average (.308) and runs per game (7.5). Hunter Hargrove (.346) is the leader among six starters batting .305 or better.

The Mountaineers, meanwhile, have proven starting pitcher B.J. Myers, surging freshman Alek Manoah and then a bunch of arms behind those two.