Barry Lewis/KillerFrogs
TCU Baseball: Midweek Mayhem
What just happened? After sweeping the home series last weekend against Kansas State and moving up to their highest weekly ranking on Monday, the TCU Horned Frogs baseball team had a horrible midweek outing. On consecutive nights, the Frogs lost home games to in-state teams. On Tuesday, it was a 6-2 loss to Abilene Christian. Then on Wednesday, it was a 12-8 loss to UTSA.
TCU’s pitching unit has incurred a couple of key injuries that played a part in these two-midweek games. And, Mother Nature also cannot be overlooked. Austin Krob has been out a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury. He did throw some on Wednesday and looked good, according to head coach Kirk Saarloos. But he still needs time. So, with Krob out of the weekend starting rotation, Cam Brown, the regular Tuesday night starter, has moved to the weekend. And with two-midweek games, Saarloos had to use the bullpen for both nights – a bullpen already short Marcelo Perez due to an injury.
The wind was also a key issue this week, especially on Tuesday night. The wind was blowing straight in from right field at around 25 mph, with stronger gusts. It caused havoc on TCU’s outfielders.
Coming into Tuesday night, TCU was on a 4-game winning streak and a 9-game home winning streak. They faced Abilene Christian, a team they had played in Abilene the week before, and won that game 14-3, which ended in the 7th inning due to the run rule. TCU was 9-1 since 2013 against the Wildcats and 3-1 all-time at Lupton against them.
Caedmon Parker (1-1) took the mound for the Frogs. He pitched three and 1/3 innings giving up four runs, one hit, and three walks while striking out three batters. TCU scored first in the second inning. But in the fourth inning, ACU scored four runs on two hits – a homer, double, and a sacrifice fly.
Braydon Taylor’s 13-game on-base streak ended. One bright note was Tommy Sacco recorded his 100th career hit with his base hit in the 9th inning. He accomplished this feat in 98 games played. It was the second consecutive game a TCU player reached this milestone as Taylor did so on Sunday.
On Wednesday, the winds had died down some, and the bats got slightly hotter for the Frogs. But the flawless defense TCU had shown in 13 games this season was non-existent as TCU had four errors in the game. Those errors resulted in four unearned runs for UTSA, which was the difference in the game.
Connor Oliver (0-1) took the mound for the Frogs for his first start since joining the team. He gave up four runs (two earned) on three hits in just one and 1/3 innings. Seven additional pitchers would come into the game in relief for TCU.
UTSA led by as much as 10-3 after the fifth inning. TCU added two in the sixth and three in the eighth, but it was not enough to overcome the early deficit. Taylor's 4th homer of the season helped with TCU's three runs in the eighth:
Next up: TCU (18-7) will host West Virginia in Big 12 Conference play this weekend. First pitch for the weekend series is Friday, April 1, at 6 p.m.
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