Baseball: TCU salvages midweek win over Tarleton State

“Phew. Thank goodness.”

Tuesday night’s comeback win over Tarleton came after the Horned Frogs dug themselves a hole they almost couldn’t get out of. All they had to do was stack some bats...

To put it lightly, if they hadn’t, this would’ve been one of the more embarrassing losses of the season for the Frogs, and that’s truly saying something. We’ve seen high highs with this year’s squad — we’ve also seen some uncharacteristically low lows.

Last night, in barely beating a 14-11 WAC team, was close to one of them.

Especially after this weekend’s lackluster performance, the Frogs needed this W. Badly...

Here’s what went down:

Recap:

All in all, it was a thrilling, and albeit entertaining, 9-8 victory over Tarleton on Tuesday night. The Horned Frogs rallied from a four-run deficit, scoring five unanswered runs to clinch the win.

The game was a back-and-forth battle early as Tarleton took an early lead with a lead-off home run in the second inning. TCU then responded with three runs in the bottom of the second, taking a 3-1 lead with a bases-loaded double from Tre Richardson. However, the Frogs couldn’t keep the lead for long, as Tarleton hit a three-run homer in the third to tie the game 4-4.

Tarleton, with only one hit, then took advantage of a horrendous TCU error to score four runs in the fourth inning to take an 8-4 lead. The Frogs managed to pull a run back in the sixth inning, and made it an 8-5 game as Fisher Ingersoll grounded out to drive in David Bishop, before mounting the miraculous comeback in the seventh.

Richardson walked, followed by a Cole Fontenelle double to open that seventh inning, and a Kurtis Byrne base hit made it an 8-6 game. With the bases loaded, everyone moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch to make it an 8-7 ballgame.

Then, with two men on — Anthony Silva delivered the big hit with a base knock up the middle to drive in two for a 9-8 Frogs lead.

Pitchers Ben Abeldt and Garrett Wright shut the door on Tarleton for TCU, with Wright striking out three of the four batters he faced to earn his second save of the season. Ryan Vanderhei picked up the win in a relief appearance, pitching a scoreless sixth inning.

Kurtis Byrne was the defensive standout for the Frogs Tuesday night, throwing out two base runners during the game.

The Frogs homered for the 23rd time this season and stole two bases, taking their total to 16 games with multiple steals this season. The Horned Frogs’ pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts, marking the 12th time this season they’ve tallied double-digit strikeouts.

TCU now owns an 18-11 record and will host No. 16 Oklahoma State for three games starting Thursday night. First pitch against the Cowboys is set for 6 p.m., and will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.