TCU Baseball Beats Oklahoma
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FORT WORTH, Texas – Two Oklahoma errors in the ninth inning proved costly as Derek Odell singled with two outs to send TCU to a 4-3 walk-off victory. The Horned Frogs rallied from a 3-1 in the eighth deficit to post their fourth straight victory.
Trailing 3-1 heading to the bottom of the eighth inning, the Frogs mounted a furious rally to get the game tied at three. Derek Odell got the inning rolling as he hit a line drive to center. Kyle Von Tungeln and Josh Elander followed with singles to load the bases with nobody out. Jason Coats showed his patience as he worked a walk to make it a 3-2 contest. Jantzen Witte battled to a 1-2 count before hitting into a double play, but the ground ball was all the Frogs needed as Von Tungeln raced home with the tying run.
With one out in the ninth inning and a runner on first, Brance Rivera hit a ground ball to third. The Sooners got the out at second, but on the ensuing relay throw to first, the ball sailed out of play allowing Rivera to advance to second. Facing a 1-0 count, Odell lined a base hit to deep left center and Rivera slid across home plate with the winning run.
TCU had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as it took advantage of a two-out error. With Coats standing on first, Witte doubled to deep left field to drive in the first run of the game.
Oklahoma looked poised to tie the game in the third after a lead-off double by Matt Oberste. He was standing on third with one out, but Preston Morrison struck out Brian Brightwell, then got a ground ball to second to end the inning.
The Frogs couldn’t dodge the bullet in the fourth inning as the Sooners pushed across three runs to take the lead. Back-to-back singles opened the inning and Max White delivered a triple to put the Sooners in front 2-1 with nobody out. Cody Reine hit a sacrifice fly to push the Sooner lead to 3-1.
Defense was key to keeping the deficit at two as the Sooners had multiple opportunities to
extend their lead. In the sixth, Oklahoma had runners on the corners with one out, but Brandon Finnegan got Reine to strike out and Hunter Lockwood to line out to end the inning.
Stefan Crichton pitched out of a jam in the seventh inning as the Sooners had runners on the corners with one out. Crichton held the runner at third on a bunt attempt for the second out, then Keaton Jones made a strong play up the middle to throw out Jack Mayfield at first to end the inning.
The biggest jam the Frogs wiggled out of came in the eighth inning as the Sooners had runners on the corners with nobody out after a base hit and an error. Justin Scharf came on and struck out Reine before Kevin Cron corralled a line drive off the bat of Lockwood and stepped on first to double off the runner to end the inning.
On the mound, the Frogs got gutsy performances from five pitchers. On short rest, Preston Morrison was touched for three runs on five hits in four innings of work. He struck out two in the no-decision. Finnegan fanned four and walked one in two scoreless frames. Crichton allowed three hits in one-plus innings of work. Scharf got three outs facing just two batters in the eighth and Kevin Allen (4-2) earned the win with two strikeouts in the ninth.
TCU improved to 27-15 overall. The Frogs will wrap up their eight-game homestand with an important three-game series against New Mexico beginning Friday night. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
