TCU 7, Texas 5: Frogs take game two in Austin

#23 TCU bounced back from allowing a complete game shutout from the Longhorn starter on Friday night with an offensive explosion on Saturday. The Frogs rode 14 hits and 3 Texas errors to 7 runs, which proved to be enough to earn the the road victory over #7 Texas.

TCU went ahead and erased the possibility of consecutive shutout games in the first inning. Leadoff man Elijah Nunez had been slumping, hitting just .200 with 10 strikeouts over the previous 7 games, but got back to his efficient ways Saturday including a single and run scored in the first inning. Tommy Sacco’s first of four hits on the night brought in another run, and a dropped Kurtis Byrne pop-fly to left field plated a third Frog in the Top of the 1st. Texas took a run back in the bottom of the inning via its first of three home runs on the day.

In the 2nd inning, TCU got a pair of base runners with Reed Spenrath and Porter Brown hits, bringing up Brayden Taylor who promptly sent one deep over the fence in right-center:

Marcelo Perez got the start on the mound for the Frogs, the first of his career. The righty pitched admirably in the new role, ultimately getting chased in the 4th inning after giving up a 2-run blast to Longhorn LF Dylan Campbell. Perez was replaced on the mound by Caleb Bolden who pitched 4.2 scoreless innings before being sent to the mound in the 9th and surrendering a leadoff HR by Campbell. Prior to that homer, Bolden had only allowed 2 hits with no walks.

That efficiency on the mound was critical to holding the TCU lead, as the Frog offense could not bring base runners home to extend the advantage, despite multiple opportunities. The Frogs were atrocious with runners in scoring position in inning 3 through 8, ultimately leaving 9 runners on base for the game. TCU did add a run in the 9th as back-to-back doubles brought Tommy Sacco around to score a handy insurance run.

River Ridings entered in relief in the 9th with the Save opportunity after the Campbell blast. He got a ground out then allowed a walk that brought the tying run to the plate. No worries though as the Longhorn batter hit a roller to 3rd which Taylor handled and slung to Rodgers at 2nd. Rodgers got blasted by the sliding Longhorn, and hopefully did not sustain an injury, but had time to release the ball to Bishop at first to end the game:

TCU improved to 21-10 on the season and 7-4 in the Big 12; Texas falls to 23-10 overall, 4-4 in the Big 12. The teams will face off on Sunday at Noon in the series finale, with a projected pitching match up between TCU RHP Brett Walker (3-1, 4.89) and Texas LHP Lucas Gordon (2-1, 2.53).

Notable Performances:

• Caleb Bolden: Win, 4.2 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 1 ER
• Tommy Sacco: 4-4 (2 2B), 1 BB, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB
• Brayden Taylor: 2-4 (1 HR, 1 2B), 1 BB, 2 R, 3 RBI,
• Elijah Nunez: 2-3, 1 BB, 1 R