Baseball: TCU downs Texas State to extend win streak

TCU baseball ran its winning streak to six games on Tuesday evening, scoring an 8-2 win over Texas State in the team’s final nonconference midweek matchup of the season. The Horned Frogs (31-21, 11-10 Big 12) remain red hot this month, holding an 8-1 overall record since May 1 with consecutive weekend series victories over Cal State Fullerton and Baylor. TCU will conclude the regular season with a Big 12 series at Kansas State this weekend.

TCU and Texas State traded home runs in the second inning on Tuesday, with freshman shortstop Anthony Silva belting a two-run blast to center field that tied the score at 2-2. Silva’s shot sparked a stretch of eight unanswered runs from the Horned Frogs, who surged ahead in the bottom of the fourth inning after Silva scored on a passed ball and Brayden Taylor drove an RBI single into left-center field to bring home Luke Boyers.

Run-scoring singles from Logan Maxwell and Tre Richardson gave the Horned Frogs a 7-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. TCU sealed its with with one run on an RBI single from Kurtis Byrne in the bottom of the eighth inning. Silva and Maxwell each finished with two RBIs in the win, while Silva scored a team-leading three runs. Freshman left-hander Braeden Sloan earned the start on the mound, throwing four and one-third innings while holding Texas State to two runs on six hits with one walk and one strikeout.

TCU’s bullpen combined to throw four and two-thirds of shutout baseball in the win. Hunter Hodges needed only one pitch to induce an inning-ending double play in the top of the fifth frame and sophomore Cohen Feser followed with back-to-back shutdown innings while striking out two batters. Ben Abeldt added three strikeouts in a shutout eighth inning and Luke Savage worked around one hit to record a scoreless ninth inning, where Boyers slid into the wall in foul territory to snag a fly ball for the final out of the contest.