Barry Lewis/KillerFrogs
TCU Baseball: Kentucky Takes Frogs to the Woodshed
In this story:
Friday-Game 1
After the first half inning of play on Friday it seemed the Horned Frogs would continue their hot start to the 2022 baseball season. Center fielder Elijah Nunez opened the series with a leadoff single and was driven in by first baseman David Bishop, who in turn was driven in by Gray Rodgers who would later score on a wild pitch. TCU was up 3-0.
But Austin Krob could not hit the broadside of a barn, hitting two batters, walking another two, throwing a wild pitch, and giving up a home run, all in a 5-run first inning for the Wildcats in which they left the bases loaded. Kentucky was up 5-3 after one inning of play, and would tack on two more runs in the second inning to end Austin Krob's day, having given up seven runs in just two innings of work.
Conner Oliver, after having made appearances in TCU's two Tuesday games without allowing a run, pitched beautifully for two innings to stop the bleeding and bring some order back to the TCU mound. Oliver retired six of seven batters faced in the third and fourth inning, only allowing a single. Oliver's dominance over that seven batter stretch would give momentum back to TCU, who would come roaring back to take the lead with five runs on three hits in the top of the 5th, including two more RBI's for David Bishop.
Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back, Oliver should not have returned to the mound for a third inning. In the 5th inning, he allowed a leadoff single, a walk, and a hit by pitch to the first three batters before eventually being pulled for Luke Savage, who was able to cut his season ERA in half by the end of the day from 16.20 to 8.10. But the damage was done, and the Frogs had blown their second lead of the day, trailing 8-11 after five innings of play.
The Frogs would come back to tie the game at 11 a piece the very next innings, starting with a leadoff double from Nunez who would be driven in by third baseman Brayden Taylor and a couple of RBI fielder's choice's off the bats of middle infielders Gray Rodgers and Tommy Sacco
TCU would give up two more runs in the bottom of the 8th to lose the game, with Marcelo Perez taking the loss.
Saturday-Game 2
In the first game of a Saturday double header, TCU faced 6'6' left handed pitcher Tyler Bosma, a graduate student transfer from Miami (Ohio). While left-handed hitting Elijah Nunez continues to display incredible improvement against lefties since last season out of the leadoff spot, the TCU bats overall continued to struggle against left handed pitching. Having given up five runs (four earned) in five innings against Western Michigan in his last outing, Bosma was able to quiet the TCU bats to get his second win of the season (2-0) while lowering his overall era to 3.60.
| Starting Pitcher | W/L | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | 2B | 3B | HR | NP | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK-Tyler Bosma | W | 5 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 93 | 1.80 |
TCU-Riley Cornelio | L | 4.1 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 79 | 10.38 |
UK junior third baseman and two hole hitter Chase Estep would seal the victory for the Wildcats with a three run bomb in the 5th inning, putting Kentucky up 5-1 and ending TCU starting pitcher Riley Cornelio's day. Estep was following up a 4-hit performance from Friday, and his output against the Horned Frogs earned him SEC Player of the Week honors.
| Chase Estep | AB | H | 2b | BB/HBP | HR | K | RBI | R | SB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Game 1 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Game 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
TCU would come back to salvage Game 3 (winning 12-8 in a wild one where the Frogs were up 7-0 at the stretch) and avoid the sweep, but the series was already lost. The Frogs stay in Kentucky to face Louisville at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday and enjoyed a tour of Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory this morning.
The good news for TCU is that this series was full of quirks that won't follow the Frogs the rest of the year. After opening the first two weekends at MLB parks, this was TCU's first true road test of the season even thought they have not enjoyed a weekend series at home yet. Furthermore, the 3:00 pm start time on Friday was unusual and unlikely to repeat itself, as was the Saturday double header, with the first game lasting only seven innings. These may seem like minute details, but sometimes that is all it takes to throw a starting pitcher out of his routine. That being said, the Frogs have got to tip their caps to the Wildcats and their coaching staff on a well played series, and then forget it ever happened.
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