TCU Baseball: Frogs Drop Series-Opener to No. 24 Arizona

The Wildcats scored 5 unanswered runs to take a pivotal Game 1 against TCU.

Jack Bell and the Frogs take batting practice before TCU's series-opener against No. 24 Arizona / TCU Baseball X/Twitter

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Last night, TCU Baseball opened up a 3-game series against the #24 Arizona Wildcats. The Frogs came into the series with a conference record of 14-7, while the Wildcats began the series with a conference record of 13-8. After TCU's 6-3 loss, the Frogs fell to 14-8, while Arizona's win now ties them with TCU in the Big 12 standings.

To say that this series is an important one would be an understatement. Not only are both teams lobbying for a regional host, meaning home field advantage throughout the post-season, but both TCU and Arizona are both in the hunt for that Big 12 regular season title that West Virginia has held control of since the beginning of the season.

The pitching matchup in Game 1 of the series lived up to the hype. Tommy LaPour, one of the most dominant pitchers in the Big 12 this season, got the start for the Frogs, while Arizona turned to Owen Kramkowski to get things started for the Wildcats.

TCU took the lead quickly in the 1st inning with a triple by Sawyer Strosnider, who was scored by Cole Cramer on an RBI groundout. Strosnider sustained an injury in the final game against Baylor last weekend but has seemingly picked up where he left off in his goal to terrorize opposing pitchers. With his triple in the 1st inning, the designated hitter for TCU picked up his 8th triple of the year, tying him for the second-most in a single season by a Horned Frog.

Arizona got on the board, tying the game in the 3rd with a homerun from Aaron Walton, but the Frogs would respond by putting up two runs in the 4th. A double by Chase Brunson got things started for the Frogs, followed by a Nolan Traeger triple to score him. Isaac Cadena scored Traeger on a sacrifice line drive to put the Frogs up by two.

The Wildcats returned fire by scratching across a run in the 4th, but a bases-loaded strikeout from LaPour kept the Frog lead intact. After working a scoreless inning in the 5th, LaPour's night on the mound would come to a close. The Wichita State transfer logged 5.0 innings for the Frogs, allowing seven hits and two earned runs, while striking out five Wildcat hitters.

Braeden Sloan took over on the mound in the 6th and ran into trouble quickly. Tommy Splaine singled to lead off the inning, and a wild pitch from Sloan moved him up to 2nd base for free. Anthony Silva connected with Karson Bowen connected across the diamond for a groundout, but multiple HBP's and a 2-RBI single from White gave the Wildcats the lead.

Louis Rodriguez would finish the inning on the mound for TCU, but the damage had been done. The Frog offense remained quiet for the rest of the game despite some chances to jump back into the ballgame. In the 8th inning, the Frogs had a chance to score after a walk by Cramer and a single by Noah Franco. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Traeger flew out to center field for the 3rd out of the inning.

Things would only get worse for Frogball as the Wildcats would strike for two more runs in the 8th courtesy of a 2-run homerun by Walton to put the game out of reach. For Arizona, Walton and White combined to go 5-for-8 at the plate with 5 RBIs. For the Frogs, Strosnider and Franco led the way offensively, both recording multi-hit games, Strosnider with his 20th multi-hit game of the season, and Franco with his 15th.

TCU is back in action tonight at 8 p.m. as they will look to even the series 1-1. Caedmon Parker was announced as the starter for today's game who's coming off an impressive start against the Bears last weekend. Parker threw 6.0 innings in the win last Saturday only allowing 2 hits and 1 earned run.

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