TCU 15, UT-Arlington 1: Explosive innings leave no doubt

Coming off the emotional high of a series sweep over Texas Tech and ahead of a conference road trip to #3 Oklahoma State, it would’ve been understandable for TCU to come out a bit flat in a let-down mid-week spot against UT-Arlington. There would be no such let-down Tuesday night as the Horned Frogs paired a strong pitching performance with two dynamite innings at the plate for a dominant run-rule shortened victory.

TCU Freshman Caedmon Parker got the start for the Frogs and would earn his fifth win of the season, three of which have come at the hands of the Mavericks. This was Parker’s best start of the season, following his rough outing in the loss at Dallas Baptist last week. Parker surrendered a double in the 2nd and a single in the 4th, but worked clean otherwise, surrendering no walks or runs while striking out four batters.

The TCU scoring offense was reserved to just two innings, but those innings certainly did more than enough. The fun got started in the 2nd inning as Goodloe and Boyers each singled and scored on a Gray Rodgers double to the wall in left center. Following a Sam Thompson walk, Tommy Sacco delivered a 2-out single to score Rodgers for the 3-0 lead. UTA turned to its bullpen in effort to stop the bleeding and get the final out, however the Frogs were only getting started in the inning. Brayden Taylor walked to load the bases for the clean-up hitting catcher Kurtis Byrne, who sent a liner in the gap in left center to the wall, clearing the bases for 3 RBI. A Spenrath single sent Byrne home, completing the 7 run inning.

The 5th inning saw the Frogs again amass two-out runs. Taylor doubled home Elijah Nunez, then Byrne added to his RBI total with a single that scored Taylor and Sacco. A Luke Boyers shot to right center hopped the fence for a ground-rule double, allowing Byrne to score, then Gray Rodgers walked to load the bases for Sam Thompson. An unfortunate series of events played out for UT-Arlington as Thompson skied a pop up into shallow right field that no Maverick could track down - being two outs all runners were rounding the bases as the ball was in flight - once it landed the bases had cleared and an off-target throw to the plate allowed Thompson to score. It went into the score book as a double and error rather than a Grand Slam home run, but the damage was done for 8 total runs in the inning.

TCU took the opportunity with the large lead to work an array of arms from the bullpen. The relief combo of Cohen Feser, Braxton Pearson, Trip Banta, Garrett Wright, and Gray Thomas threw 3.0 innings, with no walks, 4 hits, and just 1 run with 4 strike outs.

UT-Arlington fell to 11-26 on the season and will next have a road trip against Coastal Carolina. TCU moved to 25-12 overall on the season and completed the 3-0 season sweep of UTA. The Frogs will travel to Stillwater for a key conference series against #3 Oklahoma State, starting Friday at 6:00 PM and broadcast on ESPN+