Big 12 Baseball Championship: Day 1 Recap
The NCAA Baseball postseason is underway as conference tournaments start to determine how the regional series will look. Halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, the Big 12 Tournament kicked off with four games on Wednesday, May 24.
After all four games were completed, many were stunned at the results. The three teams seeded last all pulled off the upsets to put the first three seeds up for elimination in their next games. However, the day did not start that way.
#4 TCU 16, #5 Kansas State 3
The Horned Frogs wasted no time jumping on Kansas State as Brayden Taylor hit a school-record-tying home run that scored three. TCU scored two more in the inning to take a 5-0 lead, and followed up with three runs in the second inning, and two runs in the third.
A six-run fourth inning gave the Horned Frogs just the boost they needed to end the game early with a score of 16-3. TCU was the only high seed to win on the opening day of the tournament. The win gives TCU a 4-1 record at Globe Life Field in the 2023 season, averaging 11 runs per game.
#8 Kansas 6, #1 Texas 3
In what some thought would be a comfortable Longhorn win, the upset of the day came in the early afternoon game as the Jayhawks jumped on heavily favored Texas rather quickly. In the third inning, Kansas scored two runs and held the Texas response to just one in the bottom half of the inning. Texas was able to tie the game in the sixth, but Kansas limited the Longhorns from there on out.
With two outs and a full count in the seventh inning, Jayhawk’s designated hitter Janson Reeder got his only hit of the game, and made it count as he hit a grand slam to give Kansas a four run lead. Though Texas was able to add one more run, David had defeated Goliath.
Kansas State and Texas fall to the Loser’s Bracket and will face each other at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 25 with elimination on the line.
TCU and Kansas advance in the Winner’s bracket and will play at 4 p.m. Thursday, May 25.
#7 Oklahoma 9, #2 Oklahoma State 5
The Sooners came in as the defending tournament champions and College World Series runner-up. Though they had not lived up to that in the regular season, Oklahoma showed the same resiliency as it did a year prior.
Not wanting to waste any time, the Sooners scored seven runs in the first three innings against their in-state rival. With the help of a season high 13 walks, Oklahoma avenged its series loss from last week by sending the Cowboys to the bottom part of the bracket.
#6 Texas Tech 6, #3 West Virginia 2
The finale started off just as its predecessor did. The Red Raiders took the lead early and never looked back. Though the favored Mountaineers were able to respond more than once, Texas Tech scored in five consecutive innings to take the victory.
West Virginia was forced to go to its bullpen early and was not able to recover, while the Red Raiders threw only two pitchers that combined for 10 strikeouts and allowed just six hits. After losing the regular season series three games to two, Texas Tech got its vengeance and put the Mountaineers on the brink of elimination.
Oklahoma State and West Virginia will face each other in the Loser’s Bracket at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, May 25 with the loser being knocked out of the tournament.
Oklahoma and Texas Tech will face off in the night cap at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 25 with the chance to move on.
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