Horned Frogs Beat UTA 7-3 in Baseball Home Opener
TCU baseball opened its season with a 2-1 record at the College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, collecting wins over #10 Vanderbilt and #8 Arkansas. After a disappointing loss to Missouri in the weekend finale, the eighth-ranked Horned Frogs returned home on Wednesday for their season opener against UT-Arlington.
The Mavericks came into Wednesday night’s midweek tilt with a 1-3 record, dropping their opening week series to Texas A&M- Corpus Christi and then losing to Dallas Baptist, 14-3 on Tuesday.
Freshman lefty Braeden Sloan got his first collegiate start for the Horned Frogs and pitched for 3.1 innings, allowing 2 runs, one unearned, 3 hits, and 3 strikeouts. Louis Rodriguez, also a freshman, came in for relief in the fourth inning. He pitched for 2.2 innings, earning the win and finishing with 4 strikeouts and one allowed run. Junior Cam Brown and sophomore Cohen Feser were the other two TCU pitchers who saw action and combined, they allowed just 2 hits and 0 runs in three innings.
After a scoreless first inning for both sides, Cole Fontanelle got the Frogs on the board in the second with a solo home run to right field. In the same inning, Karson Bowen hit an RBI single to left field, bringing Tre Richardson home.
UTA scored in the third and fourth innings on RBI singles from Steven Saunders and former Frog Garrison Berkley to tie the ballgame at two apiece. But TCU’s response was immediate, as the offense put two more runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-2. Freshman DH Fisher Ingersoll brought one runner home with an RBI single and Anthony Silva brought home another with a sacrifice groundout.
The Mavericks scored one run in the fifth inning on Tyson Pointer’s RBI triple, but were held scoreless the rest of the way. The Horned Frogs added three more runs - two in the sixth inning, one in the seventh - and won its first home game of the young season, 7-3.
Anthony Silva led the offense with 2 RBIs on 2 hits. Four other TCU batters tied Silva with 2 hits; Brayden Taylor, Fontanelle, Richardson, and Bowen and as a team, the Frogs finished with 11 hits, which is the third time in four games that the offense has finished with double digit hits.
TCU will host Florida State in its first home series of the season. Game one will get underway on Friday, Feb. 24, at 6:30 pm. All three games of the series will be available to watch on ESPN+.
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