TCU 11, Kansas State 3: Horned Frogs sweep Wildcats

TCU baseball continued to cook this weekend, sweeping the Kansas State Wildcats with an 11-3 victory Sunday afternoon. The Horned Frog offense scored 32 runs in the three-game Big 12 Conference series after totaling 14 runs against Abilene Christian earlier in the week. TCU (18-5, 5-1 Big 12) will play two nonconference games with ACU and UTSA this week.

Brett Walker moved to 3-0 on the season with a solid start on the pitcher’s mound, throwing six innings and holding Kansas State to three runs on six hits. Right-handers Luke Savage and Garrett Wright tossed the final three innings, striking out two batters and limiting the Wildcats to one hit. The Horned Frogs moved up to No. 12 in the recent D1 Baseball poll.

Center fielder Elijah Nunez and shortstop Tommy Sacco each went 3-for-5 with RBIs in the victory. First baseman David Bishop and second baseman Gray Rodgers combined for four hits and five RBIs as well. Right fielder Luke Boyers and left fielder Logan Maxwell both finished 2-for-4 with one RBI and designated hitter Porter Brown contributed one RBI.

TCU scored three runs in the first inning, with Bishop delivering a two-run triple before Rodgers brought Bishop home on an RBI groundout. Kansas State crept back into the game over the middle innings, scoring once in the fourth and twice in the sixth to tie the score at 3-3 entering the bottom of sixth, where the Horned Frogs surged ahead 6-3 on Wildcat third baseman Kaelan Culpepper’s throwing error, Brown’s sacrifice fly and Bishop’s RBI single.

TCU took the 7-3 lead on Boyers’ RBI single in the seventh inning before RBI singles from Rodgers and Sacco brought two more Horned Frogs home in the eighth inning. Back-to-back, bases-loaded walks for Maxwell and Nunez in the eighth inning helped seal the win. TCU improved to 9-0 at Lupton Stadium with the victory. The Horned Frogs now boast a .291 team average and a .416 on-base percentage while averaging 8.1 runs per game.