TCU suffered a rare Friday night loss, but battled back to win Saturday and Sunday to take the key Big 12 series from Oklahoma.
Friday night in Norman the Frogs scratched and clawed their way out of a 4-run deficit, just to end the night in heartbreak. The Frogs trailed 4-0 in the first inning after another case of bad bunt defense doomed them early on. A pair of errors in the first inning allowed 4 runs to cross the plate for the Sooners.
In the 4th inning the Frogs got 3 runs back on 4 two out singles. The rally started with an Adam Oviedo hit by pitch, and then singles by Conner Shepherd, Alex Isola, Goodloe, and Hunter Wolfe.
The Sooners responded with a two out hit of their own in the bottom of the inning that brought home a run. In the top of the 5th the Frogs got a run on a wild pitch, then the Sooners got one back with another two out base hit. In the 6th Wolfe greeted the OU reliever by smacking his second home run of the year to left-center to bring the Frogs within one run. After 6 the Frogs trailed 6-5.
The next few innings the score stayed the same as the relief pitchers did their job on keeping the game in check. The comeback was complete in the 9th when Johnny Rizer put one out to left field to tie the game at 6. The magic ran out for Frogs on Friday night after the leadoff man walked to start the 9th, and two singles followed to plate the winning run in walk off fashion.
This was most likely Nick Lodolo’s least impressive start of the season, as the lefty gave up 10 hits and 3 earned runs in 5 1/3 innings of work. Jake Eissler shined out of the bullpen for 2 2/3 innings until he gave up the winning run in the 9th inning. Errors happened early and put the team in a hole that was just a little too deep for them to come out of.
The Frogs started their fourth different Saturday pitcher of the year in King, and maybe they have finally found the answer. Charles King worked seven innings of two-run ball, and that was enough for the Frogs to get the victory after a two inning save by Maurcelo Perez.
King had a runner reach every inning, and all but two were stranded. A ground ball to Henry scored a run in the second and in the third inning the OU leadoff man took King deep to left field. In the sixth inning the Frogs were able to tie the game courtesy of a Austin Henry single and a Rizer single. In the seventhth the bats came up big when Jake Guenther singled through the right side with the bases loaded scoring two runs. The four runs were enough for the Frogs to get the victory as Perez threw scoreless 8th and 9th innings to record the six-out save.
On Sunday, the Frogs offense struck early when Rizer hit a two-out, three-run home run in the top of the first. In the bottom of the inning a two out single drove home the first run of the game for the Sooners. Guenther continued his hot weekend with a single through the left side which drove home a run in the second and increased his season long streak to 30 games as he has reached base safely in every game this year. In the 7th, Guenther scored on a wild pitch, and Isola was brought home by a Shepherd single. Guenther recorded his third multi hit game of the weekend and was the star on offense for the Frogs in Norman.
Brandon Williamson pitched his longest outing of six innings and showed some signs of getting back to the pitcher he was the first few games of the year. Williamson finished the day with 115 pitches and allowed four hits, two walks, and gave up two runs. Eissler came on in relief and threw two scoreless innings.
Going into the ninth the Frogs led 6-2 and Cal Coughlin came on to close the game. As we know, the back of the bullpen has struggled this year and may be the missing piece to a very good team. The struggles continued Sunday as Coughlin walked two batters after striking out the leadoff man. Coughlin was pulled and Auggie Mihlbauer was called on. Mihlbauer got the first batter he faced to line out to center, and then on a 2-1 count Humphreys allowed a passed ball and Mihlbauer was pulled.
James Notary inherited the 3-1 count and two runners. The first batter he faced doubled, scoring both runners making it a 6-4 game. Notary got the last batter to ground out and Frog fans could exhale, as the Frogs won the game 6-4 and won the series on the road. The bullpen struggles have lessened a little, but still exist. The scare in the 9th inning was managed, and this team has hopefully gained some confidence and momentum going into the next week when they play Dallas Baptist on the road, and host Seton Hall for the weekend series.
