Baseball: TCU thrashes Kansas in second round of Big 12 tournament

The TCU baseball team continued to torch opposing pitching on Thursday, dominating Kansas 14-4 in the second round of the Big 12 Conference tournament at Globe Life in Arlington. The Horned Frogs (35-22, 13-11 Big 12) have all but secured their at-large berth in the NCAA Championship tournament as they continue to enjoy a red-hot month of May. TCU moved to 13-2 over its last 15 games as well as 8-2 in neutral site contests with the win.

Cole Fontenelle’s RBI triple capped off a three-run effort from the Horned Frogs in the bottom of the first inning, where TCU took a 3-1 lead before adding two runs on RBI singles from Anthony Silva and Logan Maxwell in the bottom of the third inning. A solo homer from the Jayhawks in the top of the sixth inning moved Kansas within one run of the Horned Frogs, but TCU surged ahead with five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, where Brayden Taylor belted his 45th career homer to become TCU’s all-time career home runs champion.

Austin Davis drove one run home on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving TCU an 11-4 advantage before the Horned Frogs iced the victory with three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, where Silva slapped an RBI single, advanced to second on a wild pitch that scored Fontenelle and eventually scored on a fielder’s choice grounder from Maxwell. TCU totaled 19 hits in the win, which comes one day after the Horned Frogs compiled 17 hits in their 16-3 victory against Kansas State in the opening round.

Taylor went 4-for-5 with four runs and three RBIs for the Horned Frogs, while three players including Maxwell as well as Elijah Nunez and Kurtis Byrne notched three hits in the victory. Silva finished with two hits and three RBIs and Tre Richardson added two hits on offense. Right-hander Luke Savage earned the win in relief, throwing three and one-third innings with two strikeouts and one earned run allowed on three hits. Left-handed freshman Ben Abeldt fired the final one and two-thirds of scoreless relief to secure the TCU victory.