TCU Baseball: Horned Frogs Blast UT Arlington 7-3

TCU was swept on its home field by Oklahoma over the weekend, and the Horned Frogs did not look great in any of the three games. After a promising undefeated start to the regular season, TCU has dropped its first two Big 12 series. A Tuesday night game against UT Arlington gave the Frogs a chance to reset and get back in the win column, and that is what Kirk Saarloos' group did. 

Kurtis Byrne, the third TCU batter of the game, got things going in the bottom of the first inning with a solo shot over the left field wall to give the Horned Frogs an immediate 1-0 lead. An inning later, Ryder Robinson hit a blast of his own to left field, scoring himself and Brody Green and extending the lead to 3-0. Green scored again in the fourth inning thanks to a Peyton Chatagnier sacrifice fly. 

The Mavericks' offense got busy in the sixth inning, scoring three runs off a bases-loaded opportunity. The first run was walked in, and the second two runs came on a Cason Gregory two-run single, and UT Arlington quickly brought the score within one. 

The top of the 6th also saw TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos get ejected from the game after a dispute with the umpire over a supposed hit-by-pitch call. Caedmon Parker was called for hitting UTA 2nd baseman Ryan Black with the pitch. The play was reviewed, and Black was awarded the base. Saarloos, along with all fans in attendance, heard the ball make contact with the bat first and disputed the call, which led to his ejection. 

The Frogs' response came quickly. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Chase Brunson drew a bases-loaded walk, sending one run to the plate. Green followed that up with a two-run single, making it 7-3 in favor of TCU. Those would be the final runs of the game. 

Eight TCU pitchers saw action in the win, starting with Mason Bixby. After two innings for Bixby, Zach Morris, Storm Hierholzer, Ben Hampton, and Parker pitched one inning each. Hampton allowed all three of the runs in the sixth inning. Chase Hoover, Zachary Cawyer, and Ben Abledt closed things out for TCU and secured a much-needed bounce back win for the Frogs. The pitchers combined for five hits allowed, three earned runs, and 17 strikeouts in the victory. 

After just about as bad of a start to conference play TCU could have asked for, the Horned Frogs have a chance to turn things around with a weekend series in Stillwater against Oklahoma State. The first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday.