2017 CWS: Frogs Burst Aggies’ Bubble (Again): Quick Thoughts

The Frogs sent the Aggies home from the College World Series this afternoon, with a 4-1 victory. TCU-A&M games have become epic, with emotions running high among fans. Today’s game was no different, though it was shorter than the Super Regional games the last two years. Some quick thoughts and stats from today’s game:

-A&M Pitcher Stephen Kolek was rattled from the start, walking the first two batters he faced (Austin Wade and Zach Humphreys). Kolek went on to last less than 3 innings, which was apparently the A&M standard for this CWS.

-The Frogs made us all nervous when Wade was caught stealing third in the bottom of the 1st, giving us flashbacks of the loss to Florida on Sunday. Fortunately, the Frogs got their act together and played it a little safer the rest of the game.

-The Frogs struck first in the bottom of the 2nd, when Nolan Brown doubled to left and was driven in by Connor Wanhanen to make it 1-0 Frogs. Frogs everywhere breathed a sigh of relief.

-The Aggies came completely apart in the bottom of the 3rd, when Ryan Merrill hit a home run for his hometown crowd, making it 2-0. Evan Skoug would double to drive in Humphreys and Elliot Barzilli singled to bring in Skoug. Just like clockwork. Or Frogwork.

-In the meantime, Brian Howard was snuffing out Aggie dreams from the mound. He would finish the day with 12 strikeouts, tying the record for a single CWS game.

-The Aggies finally got on the board in the top of the 6th, when Brayden Shewmake ground out to second, which drove in Austin Homan to make it 4-1. The Aggies would go on to strand Cole Bedford at third.

-Sean Wymer would enter the game for the Frogs in the 8th and take over the Aggie goodbye party. He held the Aggies to hitting grounders for outs, while also striking out 2 in two innings pitched.

-Final Stats for Big Game Howie: 7 innings pitched, 1 run on 5 hits, with 0 walks and 12 Ks. BOOM.

-When asked post-game about a rumored thumb blister Howard has been battling, he replied, “(That report) is accurate, and yes it affected me every time I gave up a hit.”

-TCU will play Thursday against the loser of tonight’s Louisville/Florida game.

-Schloss has yet to announce a pitcher, as they obviously will be watching tonight to see who they’ll be facing in Thursday’s game. So the question remains: Lodolo or Traver?

Share your favorite moments with us and let’s enjoy this win tonight before focusing on Thursday’s battle!