Baseball: Frogs Salvage Game 3, Victorious 13-4
After back-to-back losses on Friday and Saturday to the Kansas Jayhawks, the TCU Horned Frogs heavily relied on their bullpen arms to clinch their first Big 12 Conference victory of the season.
Lefty Braeden Sloan took the mound in Lawrence on Sunday after generating a tremendous performance against Arizona that saw him named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week.
His day on bump ran short being pulled just after 2 ⅓ innings pitched where he surrendered four runs on four hits and two walks. Struggling with his command, Sloan tossed a wild pitch and hit a batter before being yanked after 55 pitches.
All four runs came in the first inning courtesy of an RBI single, a bases-loaded walk, and a two-run single.
TCU snatched one back in the top of the 2nd when Luke Boyers doubled in Chase Brunson from first base to make it a 4-1 ballgame.
Zachary Cawyer settled things down for TCU on the mound, surrendering just one hit in 2 ⅔ innings. Despite the two walks, Cawyer once again showed his prowess on the mound as the Frogs’ go-to, high leverage situation reliever.
Additional contributions from the bullpen came from the lanky lefty Ben Abeldt. After pitching on Friday night, Abeldt got a day of rest before returning to the mound and pitching three perfect innings. Facing the minimum nine batters through those three innings, Abeldt dominated his way to notching six punchouts.
Combining for 5 ⅔ of shutout baseball, Caywer and Abeldt bought the Frogs’ bats time to get back into the game, and it sure paid off in the sixth.
On their way to a four run sixth, Logan Maxwell slapped a leadoff triple to left field. Followed by an RBI single from Anthony Silva, the Frogs halved the deficit to 4-2. The Frogs proceeded to load the bases before Boyers knocked in TCU’s third run of the day with a single to right field.
Perhaps the most crucial hit of the game came courtesy of breakout freshman Sam Myers. His two-run double to left field knocked in Chase Brunson and Karson Bowen and took a 5-4 lead for the Frogs.
With the bullpen shutting down the Jayhawks, TCU took advantage of their final chance to extend their lead in the top of the ninth.
TCU sent 14 players up to the plate and scored eight runs on six hits.
- Byrne singles up the middle; Myers advances to second; Chatagnier scores (TCU leads 6-4).
- Silva walks; Byrne advances to third, Maxwell advances to second; Myers scores (TCU leads 7-4).
- Robinson singles; Silva advances to second; Maxwell scores; Byrne scores (TCU leads 9-4).
- Bowen singles; Robinson advances to third; Silva scores (TCU leads 10-4).
- Brunson advances to second on a wild pitch; Bowen advances to third on a wild pitch; Robinson scores on a wild pitch (TCU leads 11-4).
- Boyers singles; Brunson advances to third; Bowen scores (TCU leads 12-4).
- Chatagnier flies out to center field; Brunson scores on a sacrifice fly (TCU leads 13-4).
After an eight-run top of the ninth, right-hander Kyle Ayers shut down all Jayhawks hopes and clinched a 13-4 victory for the Frogs.
Earning the win is the right-hander Zachary Cawyer (5-0) as the Frogs now improve to an overall record of 14-2. While an underwhelming start to conference play sees TCU sit at 1-2, they have a chance to bounce back in what will be a tough matchup at Dallas Baptist University on Tuesday, Mar. 12 before hosting the Oklahoma Sooners to a weekend series at Lupton Stadium.
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