White, Manoah lead WVU over Texas Tech 5-1

Phenomenal play by Brandon White and eight solid innings from Alek Manoah led 19th-ranked West Virginia in a 5-1 win over 10th-ranked Texas Tech to advance to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament for the fourth year in a row.

The Red Raiders started scoring off with a Brian Klein sacrifice fly to score Gabe Holt and go up 1-0.

WVU (36-18) responded the next inning. White led off with a hit-by-pitch, then Darius Hill brought him home on a triple to tie up the game. Marques Inman hit a sac fly in the next at-bat to bring home Hill and give the Mountaineers the lead.

The next few innings would be highlighted by incredible defensive play by White. In the sixth inning, he would make a backwards diving catch to strand Josh Jung on third and keep Texas Tech from tying up the game.

White repeated his heroics in the seventh with a Red Raider on first to keep them out of scoring position.

West Virginia would add two more runs in the eighth inning, including an RBI single to shallow right center to add some insurance runs.

Ivan Gonzalez would add an RBI double in the ninth.

Manoah (9-3), despite a shaky start, would finish with a solid game dealing 10 strikeouts and allowing only four hits and a run in eight innings.

With the win, the Mountaineers will take Friday off and await the winner of the Texas Tech-Kansas elimination game. First pitch of the first semifinal will be on Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. Should WVU lose that game, a rematch will be played at approximately 5 p.m. to determine who will advance to the Big 12 Championship game.