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TCU Baseball Is Risen! Frogs Sweep #4 Texas Tech On Easter Weekend
The TCU Horned Frogs were not out of the Top 25 for long. After losing their second weekend series in a row previously in Austin, TCU fell out of the Top 25 for the first time all season. What a difference a week can make, as the #4 Texas Tech Red Raiders rode into Fort Worth looking to cause trouble, only to be repelled and forced to retreat back to West Texas. It was a huge rivalry series with Big 12 conference championship implications on the line. When the smoke had cleared it revealed a bloodbath that would make Legendary Fort Worth Marshall Jim Courtright proud.
By Saturday evening the Red Raiders had put their Guns Down and ran, rode, drove, or crawled back to West Texas anyway they could. The full retreat was on as TCU had risen and destroyed any hopes the Raiders had of riding into Fort Worth to capture the Big 12 conference title.
Big 12 standings as of 4/18/22
The sweep, punctuated by Saturday's dominant 11-3 victory was witnessed by record crowds in Fort Worth.
Game 1
In game 1, Riley Cornelio was masterful once again, proving that he is the TCU staff ace. His MLB prospect rating has risen dramatically over his last few starts, and he now sits 5th in the Big 12 with a sparkling 2.87 era and leads the Big 12 in opponents batting average against at an anemic .186.
While Cornelio was lights out once again, the defense was uncharacteristically shaky in this one, allowing three unearned runs on the night. Cornelio and the Frogs would not be unnerved, buckling down to come back for the win.
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | FO | GO | NP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Riley Cornelio | 6.2 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 114 |
The nine strikeouts were a career high for Riley.
The Frogs would have to wait until the bottom of the 5th inning to muster their first run, and RBI double from Hunter Teplansky to drive in Grey Rodgers, who Teplansky supplanted at 2nd base, moving Rodgers to left field. It was Teplansky's first hit has a Horned Frog, and it would get the offense rolling.
The very next inning would see the runs flow in for the Frogs, starting with Tommy Sacco.
TCU would cross the plate three times in the 6th, twice in the seventh, and once again in the eighth. Sacco, Rodgers, and Brayden Taylor would lead the way with two hits a piece, as Augie Mihlbauer would pick up the win facing just one batter, and Luke Savage would dominate the 8th and 9th inning, recording two ground outs and four strikes outs while retiring all six batters faced and recording his first save of the season.
Game 2
Marcelo Perez took the mound for the Frogs Friday in game 2, just one week after making his first start of the year. Safe to say he settled into the starting role quickly.
Setting the Red Raiders down in order the start the game. He would continue his dominate form through the night, not allowing a hit through 4 1/3.
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | FO | GO | NP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marcelo Perez | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 90 |
The offense would be supplied by Kurtis Byrne and David Bishop in game 2, recording three hits a piece, including two doubles by Byrne.
Byre also gunned down a runner trying to steal second base.
With Texas Tech's game 2 starter Brandon Birdsell entering the weekend with the second best era in the Big 12 at 2.54, Perez was going to have to step up for the Frogs to win and he did just that. TCU Coach Kirk Saarloos is still working on lengthening Perez's pitch count with the recent move from the bullpen and it must be said that Saarloos has done a masterful job of managing his pitching staff to accommodate for the loss of Friday night starter Austin Krob.
While game 1 saw the TCU bullpen work in dominating fashion, the bullpen experience in game 2 was, different. Having already given up a couple of runs, TCU turned to their closer River Ridings in the 9th to hold onto a 4-2 lead. With the score now 4-3 TCU, the bases loaded and two outs, Ridings would be called for a balk that seemingly tied the game.
Setting TCU's Coach Saarloos off for a brief moment, before the call was reversed, exploding TT's Coach Tim Tadlock.
TCU Associate Head Coach Bill Mosiello discussed the strange sequence of events post game.
Game 3
With the series clinched already heading into game 3, Brett Walker would have one of his best outings, as would the TCU bats, to secure the sweep of the #4 team in the nation. Walker would pick up his fourth win to move his record to 4-2 in his first year as a Frog.
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | FO | GO | NP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 103 |
The Frogs exploded for 11 runs in this one and were jumpstarted by Reed Spenrath in the second inning.
Like Saarloos, Associate Head Coach Bill Mosiello did a fantastic job of putting the pieces in place for TCU's offense to be successful against a very talented Texas Tech pitching staff. Reed Spenrath grabbed ahold of the DH position, and with left fielder Logan Maxwell out with injury, moving Grey Rodgers to left field and inserting Hunter Teplansky in at second base payed of masterfully.
Jace Jung was missing in action all weekend but was reportedly found during Sunday's Easter Egg hunt, so no need to file a missing persons report. Big 12 coaches will want to file away TCU's weekend rotation pitching lines though, as it could be difficult to score runs against the Frogs down the stretch.
The weekend rotation of Cornelio, Perez, and Walker combined for 17.2 innings of work; allowing only 10 hits and two earned runs while striking out 19 against a strong Texas Tech lineup.
The #21 TCU Horned Frogs will look to keep the winning streak going when they host UT Arlington Tuesday night at 7:00pm.
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