TCU Baseball: Frogs Suffer Series Sweep In West Virginia

In what was a crucial conference series against the West Virginia Mountaineers, the Horned Frogs failed to pick up a win in Morgantown. Despite looking to salvage the series with a win on Sunday, the Frogs were manhandled to a 17-7 loss that concluded after seven innings.

Having adjusted the starting rotation, the Frogs sent reliever Ben Abeldt to take the bump. Unfortunately, Abeldt’s struggles in recent relief outings translated to Sunday when he gave up five runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks. In his three innings of work, Abeldt struck out four Mountaineer batters but suffered a massive blow to go along with it.

Abeldt pitched into the fourth inning but failed to record an out, leaving two men on base before being relieved of his duties. The Mountaineers led 3-1 heading into the fourth and erupted for an eight-run inning at the expense of five Horned Frog pitchers.

Trailing 11-1 in the fifth inning, the Frogs inched back with a massive swing from Cole Fontenelle, who cranked a grand slam to left field to make it an 11-5 ballgame. In the sixth, Elijah Nuñez brought the Frogs with four runs of the Mountaineers with a two-run blast to make it 11-7. Despite the Frogs’ efforts, pitching was not able to maintain the deficit.

The Mountaineers extended their lead with a six-run seventh inning, forcing the implementation of the mercy rule. After leading by ten runs in the seventh, the game was called. For the mercy rule to be in effect, it must be a travel day, and both coaches must agree to terms prior to first pitch.

With Sunday’s loss to West Virginia, the Frogs have now lost five games in a row. In that span, TCU has been outscored 50-27, posting an average of 5.4 runs per game and conceding 10 runs per game. Furthermore, the Frogs have conceded ten or more runs for the eighth time this season. The primary issue for the Frogs remains its pitching. By this time in late April, the team would have hoped to turn the corner on its inconsistencies pitching-wise, but the young, inexperienced rotation continues to struggle. In Sunday’s game, TCU exhausted eight arms in seven innings. Between the eight pitchers, nine walks and three hit-by-pitches were allowed.

Not only has TCU's pitching struggled this season, but it recently saw a makeover with two of its starting pitchers being moved to the bullpen. Earlier this week, Kirk Saarloos made the decision to use Ryan Vanderhei and Cam Brown in relief; therefore, Kole Klecker became the Friday starter. In its short-lived span, both Vanderhei and Brown faced problems in each of their relief outings. On Saturday, Vanderhei managed only a single out, giving up two runs on two hits. Brown failed to record an out on Sunday, walking four batters and giving up three runs and two wild pitches. The junior significantly lacked command, which has turned into an unfortunate theme for Brown.

For Vanderhei and Brown, it is difficult to be taken out of the starting rotation and put in high-stress situations. These players are not accustomed to pitching out of relief, and losing their role as starters does not help their confidence.

With Sunday’s loss, the Frogs now sit 22-18 (7-8 Big 12) on the season. TCU will most certainly remain unranked after a series sweep in Morgantown and is now facing a tough task in the Big 12 title race. Sitting behind Oklahoma, TCU is seventh in the standings ahead of Kansas and Baylor.

TCU will look to turn things around on Tuesday when Dallas Baptist University rolls into Fort Worth. These two teams last met on February 28, where the Frogs came out on top after 12 innings in a 4-1 victory. Since then, the Frogs have struggled to weather the storm that has taken control of its season. On the other hand, DBU has a record of 31-9 and is on a 14-game winning streak after sweeping Louisiana Tech this weekend.

Fortunately for the Frogs, they will return home on Tuesday to start the first of a 12-game homestand. TCU and Dallas Baptist are slated for a 6:00 pm start on Tuesday, April 25.

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