It might just be March, but “Lupton Magic” made a couple early appearances as the Frogs took a pair of games against Texas this weekend.
The series started off slow this weekend in Fort Worth for both teams as they were scoreless through seven innings Friday night. The Frogs had the leadoff runner on in the first, fourth and seventh, but couldn’t scratch a run against the pesky Longhorn defense.
TCU centerfield Johnny Rizer made the play of the year by robbing a home run over the center field wall to earn the top play on Sportcenter that night and keep the game scoreless as long as it was.
The Texas catcher, Michael McCann had caught two runners stealing, and there wasn’t much else going on the offensive side through seven innings. Both starters were brilliant, giving up one run each in eight innings. After a debatable call on a steal of home in the eighth and a sacrifice fly in the ninth, the Longhorns lead 2-0 going into the bottom of the ninth. Nick Lodolo threw eight innings of nine hit, one-run ball for the Horned Frogs Friday night and kept them in the game till the end.
Marcelo Perez came on to pitch the ninth and gave up a run to extend the Texas lead to 2-0, but the Frogs fought back. Alex Isola started the ninth by wearing a pitch to put the leadoff runner on, then Jake Guenther walked. There were back-to-back wild pitches that put a runner on third and scored a run with no outs.
It was a 2-1 game, Henry walked to put two on. Rizer singled through the right side to tie the game and moved Henry to third. On a 1-0 pitch, Oviedo singled on a bloop to left and brought home the winning run. The chaos ensued in Fort Worth as the crowd went crazy and havoc broke loose. The Horned Frog faithful witnessed “Lupton Magic” once again. This was a big boost for the team’s morale going into conference play and much needed after a sluggish start to the season.
Saturday was a different story in this series. The Longhorns battled back and score two in the first, four in the third, and five in the fifth and this game was out of reach. The Longhorns took a 12-1 lead in the fifth inning and that was all she wrote. TCU starting pitching on Saturday’s remains a question with the absence of veteran Jared Janczak. The Frogs have a 3-3 record on Saturdays, while is their worst of any day of the week. Jake Eissler gave up six runs in two innings, and the rest of the staff didn’t fare much better. Blair Henley threw six innings of one-run ball for Texas, and the bullpen took care of the rest. The Frogs offense couldn’t get going Saturday night under the lights. Haylen Green came in and gave up a run, Rudis gave up five, and Barr gave up another. The Horned Frogs bullpen struggled once again at home on a Saturday.
The Longhorns looked like they were carrying the momentum from Saturday over and took an early 3-0 lead in the first inning into the series finale Sunday. The leadoff hitter Duke Ellis started off the game with a single. The second hitter for the Horns laid down a perfect bunt for a base hit, then the next Longhorn proceeded to do the same, except this time the ball was thrown down the third base line by the TCU starter, Brandon Williamson. This gave the Longhorns a 2-0 lead, and after a two out single, the Longhorns took a 3-0 lead.
In the bottom of the first, TCU senior Josh Watson struck back with a solo shot and made it a 3-1 game in this series deciding game. Both starters settled in and threw scoreless innings in the second and third, but in the fourth both teams got back on the board. The Longhorns got two more runs on two hits and an error. The Frogs had more trouble fielding bunts and starter Brandon Williamson got pushed out of the game.
Reliable TCU reliever Charles King came on for another relief appearance. King gave up a sac fly, then got the next two batters to fly out and end the inning. The Frogs struck back in the fourth with a solo home run from Henry, but that was it. After four innings the Frogs trailed, 5-2. In the sixth the visiting Longhorns got two more on an error and a single, and they led 7-2 going into the bottom of the sixth inning.
If you’ve been a TCU baseball fan for long, you know these leads don’t last long, especially if they are trailing at home. The Frogs got three runs off an Oviedo home run and it suddenly became a two-run game. The Longhorns got one more in the 7th, and then the rally was on.
In the 7th the Frogs got two more on a Hunter Wolfe home run, and Frog fans knew Lupton magic was back. In the bottom of the 8th the team scored five runs and took a 12-8 lead, and that was the game. Oviedo singled with one out, and Shepherd, Keefer, and Wolfe all followed up with singles of their own making it a 9-8 game and putting TCU ahead for good. The Longhorns made a costly error of their own, causing two TCU runs to score on a fielder’s choice ground ball by Isola. The second baseman threw a ball that skipped over the first baseman’s glove and went out of play bringing home two runs to extend the Frogs lead 11-8. The Frogs pushed one more across on a Guenther double to make it 12-8, and that was all they needed.
The electric freshman Marcelo Perez came back on to close it out, after recording the last out in the 8th. Perez got a groundout, a foul out, and a strike out to end the game. The Frogs completed the comeback to take their first Big 12 series of the year from the Texas Longhorns.
This was a great start to conference play for this young team. The bullpen and Saturday pitching remains a question, but the Frogs will take this for now. The team looks to bounce back and take the series from the Oklahoma State Cowboys next weekend when they come into town.
