TCU Baseball: Florida State Series Recap
Kirk Saarloos and the No. 8 TCU Horned Frogs returned to winning ways after securing a 3-2 victory against Florida State. Dominant in games one and two of the series, Florida State was quieted by Cam Brown and freshman reliever Kole Klecker, who were phenomenal in Sunday’s performance.
While Klecker appeared in relief, Brown took the hill for the Frogs. In his second start of the season, Brown looked to exceed the 1.2 innings he pitched previously against Arkansas where he gave up four earned runs.
In the first inning against the Seminoles, Brown got off to a sensational start, finding two outs on four pitches. But after retiring the first two batters in quick succession, the struggles emerged. A two-out single by James Tibbs III, a hit-by-pitch on Jaime Ferrer, and a walk to Treyton Rank loaded the bases and put Brown in a quick, first-inning predicament.
Proceeding to walk the next two batters the Frogs found themselves in an early 2-0 hole, but Brown found a way to finish the inning, limiting the damage to only two runs.
Despite struggling in the top half of the first, Brown found his groove and pitched five innings, giving up two runs (unearned), one hit, and five walks. A dominant outing by the junior, he tied a career high nine strikeouts.
While Brown settled in, the Frogs clawed their way back to take the lead. A single from David Bishop, put the Frogs on the board in the fourth inning. In the seventh inning, a knock through the left side of the infield from Kurtis Byrne tied the game up at two-a-piece. Coming up the plate next was Cole Fontenelle, who put the ball in play and reached on a throwing error. Scoring Brayden Taylor from second base, the Frogs took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh.
Recorded with his second win of the year, Klecker pitched four perfect innings, retiring each of the 12 Seminole batters he faced. Garnering five strikeouts, Klecker worked quickly through the order forcing weak contact around the board. The freshman from from Chandler, AZ has gotten off to a stellar start in his collegiate career, striking out 11 and allowing only one run over 8.1 innings.
This series against Florida State was humbling for the Frogs–perhaps something the team needed. Despite such a strong start to the season in knocking off No. 10 Vanderbilt and No. 8 Arkansas, TCU lost the weekend series 2-1, giving up 22 runs in those three games.
While pitching found its way back on Sunday, holding the Seminoles to only one hit, it remains a point of concern going forward. The Frogs have given up an average of 6.2 runs per game. While pitching has been hit or miss, TCU’s starters have also struggled to pitch deep into games. With time, this should fix itself as pitchers get accustomed to the workload. Additionally, errors have been a detriment for the Horned Frogs early this season as they have racked up 14 in the first seven games of the season. Having to pitch “extra outs” due to self-inflicting, sloppy plays is an aspect of the game that separates good teams from great teams.
With this in mind, Sunday’s victory was crucial as the Frogs improved to 4-3 on the year. Tuesday, the Frogs will travel to take on Dallas Baptist at 6:30 p.m before taking Frogball USA to Houston for the Shriners Children's College Classic next weekend.
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