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TCU Baseball Drops Series Against West Virginia
TCU fans were looking for a nice warmup series sweep to prepare for the brutal stretch of games that they have coming up, starting with a weekend series against the University of Texas Longhorns. The upcoming stretch will see TCU take the field against ranked opponents in 14 of 15 straight games. Anything could happen during the upcoming crucial stretch of the season that will determine what kind of a team the 2022 version of the TCU Horned Frogs are. If TCUs' play leading up to this critical juncture is any indication of things to come, then the last several games for the Frogs are most definitely a bad omen. Since sweeping Kansas State two weekends ago, the Frogs went 1-4 against competition that TCU was expected to handle fairly easily. That did not happen.
Game One against the Mountaineers saw a wild 9th inning. With the college baseball world having just witnessed Texas Tech successfully walk off the University of Texas by stealing home, everyone has been collectively holding their breath to witness which team will attempt to pull it off next. The wait was short.
Then in the bottom of the 9th this happened:
Hard to imagine a worse way to lose a game, and for River Ridings his first blown save of the year was an oddity for sure. Still, if you are a TCU fan you don't want to see the Frogs in a position to allow things like this to happen in the first place. More on that later, as the Frogs dropped game one 3-2 despite another strong performance from Riley Cornelio who should have picked up another win.
TCU was able to come back and salvage game two behind the arm of Marcelo Perez, who may be in line to get a start next weekend.
Of course you've also gotta score runs to win, enter Braydon Taylor:
With his 5th home run of the year, a two run go ahead shot that would put the Frogs up 5-4 and be the game winner.
With the starting pitching issues that the Frogs have had of late, including Austin Krob out with injury, heading into Sunday with Cornelio and Perez out of bullets was not an ideal situation. Transfer Brett Walker started the season strong but has been fading a bit of late, and that trend continued on Sunday. Walker has avoided a complete meltdown, and despite not being his most effective on Sunday he gave the Frogs a chance to stay in the game. West Virginia's Sunday starter Zach Bravo does not have a loss on the season and comprises one third of a very strong West Virginia starting rotation. He held the Frogs in check allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, through 5 innings of work, and that was all she wrote. West Virginia reliever Trey Braithwaite slammed the door shut through 3.2 innings of work without allowing a single batter to reach base.
TCU only scored two runs in each of the two losses to West Virginia over the weekend, both against right handed starting pitchers. As noted, WVU does have a strong starting rotation, but so does UT, TTU, OSU, DBU, and FSU; all ranked opponents coming up on TCU's schedule. Yes, Game 1 was an oddity, and yes the TCU starting rotation behind Cornelio needs improvement. Coach Kirk Saarloos eluded to the possibility of Perez joining the rotation, and Krob reentering it could be the quick fix that TCU is looking for. Still, scoring two runs a game is not going to cut it in the Big 12.
Coach Bill Mosiello has been one of the best in the business at manufacturing runs during his tenure at TCU and Frog fans can rest assured that he will figure out a way to turn the offense around. But the current configuration in the lineup is not working. While the top and middle of the lineup is producing beyond expectations, the bottom of the lineup is in an all time funk. During the West Virginia series the LF and DH position went a dreadful 2 for 21 with last year's Big 12 tournament MVP Porter Brown rotting away on the bench. Browns' 2022 numbers are down, but he has not been given a chance to produce, with his first few starts of the season against left handed pitchers and then in freezing cold conditions. He has not had a regular place in the lineup ever since, which at this point is a crime. Giving Brown guaranteed at bats either in left field or in the DH spot is the easiest fix to get this offense back on track. If TCU waits any longer to make the switch it very well could be too late, leaving TCU fans to wonder again what could have been.
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