Fuller Birch
NCAA Baseball Tournament: Frogs Cruise In Opening Game
June started where May left off for TCU. The bats were hot again for TCU in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The No. 2 seed Horned Frogs (38-22) easily defeated the No. 3 seed Arizona Wildcats 12-4.
“Good ball game,” said TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos after the game. “Two really offensive clubs that have been playing really well lately. I thought overall it was about who was able to get some people out on the mound. [Kole] Klecker gave us four innings and then turned it over to Luke [Savage] and kind of settled the game down for us which was nice. It’s one game, and obviously that’s a really good team that we might face again, but I thought we played well.”
RHP Kole Klecker got the start for the Frogs. Klecker got two quick outs to start the first inning, then gave up a double to left-fielder Chase Davis, followed by a homer by first baseman Kiko Romero. The Wildcats were up 2-0 before TCU even got to the plate.
Those hot bats of the Frogs started immediately. Elijah Nunez got a lead-off double, followed by a single by Karson Bowen. Then Brayden Taylor came to the plate and did what BTay has done all season – a bomb over the wall in right-center. And just like that, the Frogs were up 3-2 with no outs. They didn’t look back after that and never trailed again. Tre Richardson would make it 4-2 before the inning was over. The Frogs would bat around in the first inning.
The second inning looked like déjà vu to the first inning – Nunez was hit by pitch, and Bowen doubled. Again, Taylor comes to the plate with no outs and two on base. This time, he singled to centerfield, scoring both Nunez and Bowen. Arizona would pull starting pitcher Cam Walty before even recording one out in the second.
Jackson Kent came in for the Wildcats. He would pitch 3.2 innings, the most of any Arizona pitcher in the game. Arizona put five pitchers on the mound in the game. As a unit, they gave up 17 hits, 12 runs (nine earned), five walks, five strikeouts, and two home runs. Kurtis Byrne got the 2nd homer with a 2-run bomb in the bottom of the eighth.
It wasn’t just the offense and the pitching that were keys to this win. Defensively, the Frogs played errorless ball, while the Wildcats had three errors in the game. Taylor, playing at third base, had a couple of amazing catches, doing what Frog fans have come to expect from him at that position. Austin Davis, who has already been featured on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 plays twice this season, made his case for yet another appearance after a gorgeous diving catch in right field, denying Arizona designated hitter Tyler Casagrande of what easily would have been a double, if not more.
Luke Savage (5-3) got the win for the Frogs. He entered the game in the fifth inning in relief of Klecker. He pitched four innings with 55 pitches, three hits, one run (earned), one walk, and three strikeouts. Cohen Feser pitched the ninth inning, racking up two strikeouts. The Frogs’ pitching crew threw ten strikeouts total in the game.
Next up: TCU advances to the winner’s bracket of the Fayetteville Regional. They will face the No. 3 national seed Arkansas on Saturday, June 3, at 8 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPNU. The game will be a rematch of the second game of the season when TCU defeated Arkansas 18-6 in the Higgenbotham College Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
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