Photo Courtesy of Big 12
Arlington, Texas – During the second game of the first day of the Big 12 Conference tournament, the No. 9 seed Texas Christian Horned Frogs beat the No. 4 seed West Virginia University Mountaineers 5-2 at Globe Life Field.
TCU’s pitching staff between starting pitcher Caedmon Parker and relief pitcher Braeden Sloan threw nine innings, allowing three hits, four walks, and 13 strikeouts while facing 33 batters.
“I kind of feel like it’s all due to the coaching staff that we have and kind of guiding us to go one pitch at a time and for me I was just trying to take it pitch-by-pitch and batter-by-batter. My biggest thing has been a short memory with a lot of confidence and trying to execute as many pitches as I can”, Parker told World Baseball Network during the postgame press conference on Tuesday.
Parker advanced his record to 3-1 for the season in his fourth start.
“More hits and less strikeouts. That will be ideal. That was a good game for them using only two pitchers. Those guys made our hitters swing at a lot of pitches that weren’t strikes and taking a lot of pitches that were strikes, and that’s when you know your pitchers are having a good game”.
West Virginia’s pitching staff also did not pan out well on Tuesday, allowing nine hits, five earned runs, two walks, and five strikeouts against the TCU offense.
West Virginia is on the brink of elimination and has not won a Big 12 conference championship title since joining in 2013.
The TCU program has played at least one regular season game in Globe Life Field since 2021, and its record is 16-5 all-time, including the Big 12 Conference tournament.
The Horned Frogs kept their offense quiet until the top of the third inning during the first day of the Big 12 Conference tournament.
In the top of the third inning, TCU second baseman Brody Green roped a triple into the right-center field gap as West Virginia center fielder Skylar King dove out of the reach of his outstretched glove to lead off the inning.
The next batter, TCU center fielder Chase Brunson smacked a ground ball to West Virginia second baseman Broddie Kresser as Green came in to score for the game’s first run.
During the top of the fourth inning, TCU added another run to the board with catcher Karson Bowen drawing a walk with the bases loaded to score Burnson and extend the lead to 2-0.
West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey went to his bullpen early to call on sophomore relief pitcher Maxx Yehl to replace starting pitcher Carson Estridge.
Estridge threw 3.2 innings while facing 14 batters and allowed four hits, two earned runs, one walk, and striking out three while throwing 62 pitches.
TCU added another run in the top of the fifth inning with first baseman Kurtis Byrne grounding into a 6-4-3 double play and center fielder Chase Brunson coming in to score to make it 3-0.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, West Virginia finally got on the board as sophomore catcher Logan Sauve launched a two-run home run into the left-field seats for his seventh dinger to cut the lead to one at 3-2.
During the top of the sixth inning, Brunson got his fair share as he drove an RBI single up the middle, scoring TCU third baseman Luke Boyers to make it 4-2.
TCU starting pitcher Caedmon Parker did not come out for the bottom of the sixth inning as head coach Kirk Saarloos called upon southpaw relief pitcher Braeden Sloan. Parker threw five innings and faced 20 batters, allowing two hits, two earned runs, four walks, and striking out seven while throwing 80 pitches.
In the top of the ninth inning, TCU added an insurance run as Green launched a solo home run over the left-center field wall to make it 5-2.
Saarloos let Sloan attempt his final 12 outs of the game as he got West Virginia designated hitter Kyle West to strike out swinging for the final out of the game to win 5-2.
TCU will look to make a mark on their second consecutive Big 12 Conference tournament when they play against Oklahoma, ranked No. 8 in the country, on May 22 at Globe Life Field at 1:30 p.m. EST on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
Oklahoma won the 2024 Big 12 Conference regular season title for the first time in program history since joining in 1997.
TCU has won four Big 12 Conference championship titles since they left the Mountain West Conference after the 2012 regular season.
West Virginia will play No. 6 Kansas State University at 10 a.m. EST at Globe Life Field on May 22 on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
