TCU Baseball Loses To Texas Tech
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LUBBOCK, Texas – The TCU Horned Frogs squandered a 7-3 lead and Texas Tech rallied for an 8-7 victory Sunday afternoon. The Red Raiders scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth to win.
Trailing 7-3 heading to the bottom of the sixth, the Red Raiders began to mount a comeback as they scored three times in the sixth to cut the deficit to one. The comeback was completed in the bottom of the eighth as they scored two to take an 8-7 lead.
A lead-off walk in the eighth was costly as Devon Conley moved to third on a double by Brett Bell. Alex Young (3-3) made a great play for the first out as he cut down the Conley trying to score on a safety squeeze. It was not to be though as Eric Gutierrez doubled to drive in the tying run. A ground ball gave the Red Raiders the lead.
Texas Tech opened the scoring, striking with three runs in the first inning. With one on and two out, Mitchell issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. Jake Barrios wasted no time clearing the bases as he tripled off the right field wall to put the Red Raiders on top.
TCU rallied back in the top of the third to take the lead. The Frogs scored five times as
they sent 11 men to the plate. Two walks and base hit by Boomer White loaded the bases with nobody out. Jantzen Witte got the Frogs on the board with a sacrifice fly and Paul Hendrix completed the comeback with a three-run blast to right field for a 4-3 lead. An error and a trio of walks pushed across another run for a 5-3 lead.
The Frogs added to their lead in the top of the fifth inning. Jerrick Suiter worked his second walk of the game and moved to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run by Dylan Fitzgerald. Keaton Jones lay down a suicide squeeze that was fielded by the pitcher. His throw to the plate was in time, but Suiter slid in ahead of the tag for a 6-3 lead.
The lead grew to four in the top of the sixth as TCU tacked on its seventh run of the game. Cody Jones was hit to open the inning and moved to third on a base hit by White. Witte followed with a double to drive in Jones. TCU had a chance to add to its lead as the bases were loaded with only one out, but Texas Tech turned an inning-ending double play to end the threat.
Texas Tech comeback started in the sixth as it scored three times to make it a 7-6 game. With two on and two out, Bryant Burleson doubled to deep center to make it a 7-5 contest. Gutierrez followed with a bloop single to left to drive in the third run of the inning.
Andrew Mitchell started for the Frogs and went three innings. He was touched for a trio of first inning runs, allowed three hits, walked five and fanned five in the no-decision.
Trevor Seidenberger was solid in relief with two scoreless innings. Stefan Crichton and Travis Evans were touched up in the three-run sixth for Texas Tech. Justin Scharf allowed two hits in 1 1/3 innings of work. Young was charged with the loss after allowing two runs on two hits and a walk in 2/3 of inning pitched.
TCU (11-16, 3-6 Big 12) returns home to open a nine-game homestand Tuesday night. The Frogs will host UT Pan American in a mini midweek series Tuesday and Wednesday. Game time against the Broncs is set for 6:30 both nights.
