Baseball: TCU's Sloan Fans 13 in Win Over Arizona
The 2024 baseball season is only a few weeks old, and college baseball fans have already been treated to some truly classic pitching outings. For example, Arkansas' Hagen Smith struck out 17 batters in six innings (78 pitches) on February 23 to lead the Razorbacks to a big win over Oregon State. Well, there's a new video game-like stat line from a pitcher to talk about, given to us by TCU's Braeden Sloan.
TCU's Braeden Sloan struck out 13 batters in six innings pitched in TCU's win over Arizona.
Sloan was, in a word, masterful in his team's 6-1 victory over Arizona on Wednesday. Sophomore lefty out of California got his first start of the season in TCU's second midweek game in as many days and did not disappoint. In just six innings of work, Sloan allowed just three hits and struck out 13 Wildcat batters, including six of the first seven that he saw. By the time he exited the game after the sixth inning, his team held a 3-0 lead.
Andrew Mosiello took over for Sloan in the top of the seventh, pitched just one inning, and struck out three batters. Chase Hoover came on in the eighth and struck out two batters, allowed two hits and the first run of the game for Arizona. After 0.2 innings of work, Hoover left, and Hunter Hodges came on to close out the inning. Ben Abeldt was on the bump in the ninth and allowed no hits, walked one batter, and struck out two, bringing TCU's total strikeout count on the night to 19.
The great night of pitching would mean nothing without runs, and TCU's explosive offense provided runs once again. Peyton Chatagnier got the Frogs going with a lead-off double in the bottom of the first, and Anthony Silva brought him home with an RBI double to left field.
Ryder Robinson hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning that brought Chase Brunson home, and a groundout in the third by Kurtis Byrne sent Chatagnier home to make it 3-0 in favor of TCU.
The score would stay at 3-0 until the sixth inning, when Sam Myers sent a two-run double to right field, which extended the lead to 5-0. After Arizona's first run of the game in the top of the eighth, Chatagnier got it right back in the bottom of the inning with a bases-loaded walk, giving the Frogs a 6-1 lead.
The 9-0 Horned Frogs get busy this weekend in Arlington at Globe Life Field as they are set to face USC, Arizona State, and USC again on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively. Friday's opener against USC is set to begin at 2 p.m. and can be watched on FloSports.TV. Although it is not confirmed, expect Payton Tolle to take the mound for TCU, as he has served as Kirk Saarloos' Friday night starter for two weeks in a row.
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