College World Series: TCU's Season Comes to an End

Florida moves past the Horned Frogs in another College World Series classic.

Carson Wersal | Jun 21, 2023

After losing 3-2 in a heartbreaking Game 11, TCU's season comes to a close in Omaha. The Horned Frogs rallied in multiple innings but couldn't deliver as Florida moved on to the College World Series Final.

MCWS Game Eleven - 1st Inning

Kole Klecker found two outs quickly, but the Gators made him pay for walking Wyatt Langford, as Josh Rivera got a hold of one and sent it to the left-field bleachers. Klecker struck out BT Riopelle to end the 1st.

Elijah Nunez struck out looking, but the Frogs got rolling with Karson Bowen being walked and Brayden Taylor singling into left. Because of a wild pitch, Bowen was scored on the hit by Taylor. Taylor moved over on another wild pitch/walk, giving the Frogs runners at the corners. Kurtis Byrne was hit by the first pitch, which loaded the bases, but the Frogs couldn't get anybody else across the plate as Anthony Silva struck out swinging.

(Florida-2, TCU-1)

MCWS Game Eleven - 2nd Inning

Luke Heyman singled into right field, Tyler Shelnut flew out into right field, Ty Evans grounded into a fielders choice at 2nd base, and Colby Halter singled into center field to give the Gators runners on first and second, but Klecker got out of trouble with a fielders choice at 2nd base.

Logan Maxwell was hit by the first pitch to lead off the Frogs, and due to a bunt by Austin Davis and an infield grounder by Nunez, Maxwell was able to get all the way to third base. A strikeout by Bowen ended the Inning.

(Florida-2, TCU-1)

MCWS Game Eleven - 3rd Inning

Klecker had a quick 3rd inning with only five pitches and some solid defensive plays. Cole Fontenelle made a great catch in foul territory for the first out. Klecker got Jac Caglianone to ground out to first base, and Rivera to shortstop for the final outs.

Taylor flew out to left field to start the Inning. Fontenelle walked, but Tre Richardson grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the 3rd.

(Florida- 2, TCU-1)

MCWS Game Eleven - 4th Inning

Klecker had another quick inning in the 4th with only eight pitches to bring his total to 48. Riopelle grounded out to 1st base, and Heyman flew out to left field for two quick outs. Shelnut singled into left, but what followed was a line drive that was caught by Silva to end the Inning.

Byrne was walked to begin the 4th. Silva grounded into a fielder's choice, which moved Byrne over to second. Maxwell singled into the right-center field gap, but Byrne was thrown out at the plate. Davis flew out to left field for the final out.

(Florida-2, TCU-1)

MCWS Game Eleven - 5th Inning

Halter struck out swinging, and Cade Kurland lined out to center field to give Klecker two quick outs. Langford doubled to the right-center gap, but Klecker got Caglianone to ground out for the third out. Klecker, with another solid 10-pitch inning, gave him 58 pitches through five innings of work.

Nunez led off the 5th with a hard ground ball to second base for the first out. After a single into right field by Bowen, Caglianone left the game after 4 and 1/3 innings. Ryan Slater took the mound for the Gators with a runner on first. Taylor singled to right field, and Fontenelle walked to give the Horned Frogs bases loaded. Slater got out of a high-leverage situation by striking out Richardson and getting Byrne to pop out to the second baseman.

(Florida-2, TCU-1)

MCWS Game Eleven - 6th Inning

After a single by Rivera, Ben Abeldt took over on the mound in the 6th for Klecker. The Horned Frogs were in trouble after a lengthy at-bat resulted in a single into right field, giving the Gators runners on first and second. Abeldt did his job well by striking out Riopelle and Shelnut and getting the final out with a ground ball to third.

Slater had a quick inning for the Gators as he got Silva to ground out to third. Maxwell lined out to center, and Davis to groundout to third. Despite Davis hitting the ball hard, Halter, over at third, made a fantastic diving play to end the Inning.

(Florida-2, TCU-1)

MCWS Game Eleven - 7th Inning

Abeldt gave the Horned Frogs a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts on Halter and Kurland and then got Langford to fly out to center field to finish the top of the 7th.

Nunez struck out to start the 7th for the Frogs. The Inning didn't get better as Bowen grounded out to shortstop, and Taylor popped out the catcher.

(Florida-2, TCU-1)

MCWS Game Eleven - 8th Inning

Rivera gave Abeldt some trouble with a double in the left-center gap but a strikeout and a lineout got the Frogs out of a jam.

Fontenelle grounded out to shortstop, and Brandon Neely came in to pitch for the Gators. Richardson singled past the 3rd baseman, followed by Byrne hitting a dribbler back to the pitcher. It wasn't hit hard, but it was enough to move Richardson over to 2nd base. Silva came up huge with a ground-rule double to score Richardson. Maxwell was hit by the 3rd pitch of the at-bat, which gave the Frogs runners on first and second, but Davis struck out looking to end the Inning.

(Florida- 2, TCU- 2)

MCWS Game Eleven - 9th Inning

After a double laced into the gap, Garret Wright took over on the mound for Abeldt. Dale Thomas attempted to put a bunt down, but a good pitch by Wright made him pop it up to the first baseman. The Gators moved the runner from second to third courtesy of a fly ball at the warning track. Wright gets a ground ball toward shortstop, but Silva didn't have time to make a throw scoring the runner from third. Wright got the final out via a strikeout on Langford.

In the final three outs, Nunez struck out swinging, and Bowen grounded out to shortstop. With Taylor at the plate, it felt like destiny that TCU would send the game into extra innings with a tie. On the third pitch of the at-bat, Taylor launched a ball to straightaway center field. As the centerfielder kept moving back, it looked like Taylor had tied the game with one swing of the bat. Unfortunately for TCU Baseball, Michael Robertson put his body on the line catching the fly ball against the wall for the third out.

Final Score: TCU- 2, Florida- 3

Despite solid pitching from TCU's Klecker, Abeldt, and Wright, the Frogs couldn't get it done, leaving ten runners on base. Taylor had two hits, but the rest of the offense had trouble finding the gaps causing the Horned Frogs to only have six hits in the game today. Slater and Fisher threw three scoreless innings in total, setting up the Gators for a go-ahead run in the 9th.

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Published Jun 21, 2023

CARSON WERSAL

Carson is a student currently at TCU studying journalism with a sports focus. He graduated from Aledo High School and played baseball for Frank Phillips College before attending TCU in 2022. Carson follows local Fort Worth sports but is excited to start writing about TCU sports.