TCU Baseball Loses To Kansas

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FORT WORTH – Kansas jumped out to an early 6-1 lead and never looked back as it handed TCU an 8-4 loss Saturday night. The loss snaps the Horned Frogs’ four game winning streak.

TCU worked out of an early jam in the first as Kansas stranded a pair of runners, but the Frogs would not wiggle off the hook in the second. The Jayhawks took a 3-0 lead on four hits. The first four batters singled in the inning and two scored before there was an out recorded. Nick Frey took over and retired three straight to end the inning with the Frogs trailing by just three runs.

The Horned Frogs answered in the bottom of the inning, scoring a run on a pair of hits. Paul Hendrix reached on a one-out single and moved to second on a Davy Wright sacrifice. Derek Odell lined a single over the second baseman’s head to drive in the run, cutting the deficit to two, 3-1.

Another three run inning put the Frogs in a 6-1 hole as the Jayhawks took advantage of two

defensive miscues. Similar to the second inning, the first four batters reached on three singles and an error. Connor McKay made it a 4-1 game before the first out was tallied. After driving in the second run of the inning, Ka’iana Eldredge broke on a delayed double steal. The Frogs threw to second, but the relay home was dropped, allowing the third run of the inning to score for a 6-1 lead.

Frey settled in and held the Jayhawks in check through the middle innings. The first two runners in the fourth reached on errors, but Frey found his groove as he retired the next 10 batters to get the game to the seventh inning.

TCU put up a three spot in the fourth inning as it crushed three doubles in the frame to make it a 6-4 ballgame. Jantzen Witte worked a lead-off walk and scored easily on a double off the bat of Kevin Cron. Hendrix traded places with Cron to push across the second run of the inning. Two batters later, Hendrix was standing on third when Keaton Jones line a double down the right field line to make it a two-run game.

The Frogs best opportunity to get the game tied came in the sixth as they had a pair of runners on and only one out. Eldredge made a great defensive play on a chopper off the plate to throw out a runner at third base and Wes Benjamin struck out the final batter of the inning to get out of the jam.

The Kansas bullpen took over in the seventh and retired all nine batters they faced. Kansas put the game out of reach with a two run top of the ninth to account for the final score.

Trevor Seidenberger (1-1) was touched for three runs on five hits in one-plus inning of work. Frey threw 5 2/3 innings in relief, allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits to go along with five strikeouts. Riley Ferrell, Alex Young and Justin Scharf combined to pitch the final 2 1/3 innings. Ferrell gave up a pair of runs on a hit and a walk, while striking out three.

TCU falls to 8-10 overall and 1-1 in Big 12 play. The rubber match of the series is slated for Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

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