“Boom” went the No. 12 Horned Frogs after their first road game since March 20. No. 14 Oklahoma, as it normally does at L. Dale Mitchell Park, blew up TCU 13-6 — the game was even uglier than the scoreboard indicated.
Worse for head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s club, the hits were about even: 11 for TCU and 12 for OU. Four errors and eight runners stranded for TCU, coupled with five walked batters, were an equation for TCU’s seventh straight loss to the Sooners.
“Whether it’s Oklahoma consistently here for the last five years or it’s anybody else, you’re not going to win any games that way,” Schlossnagle said.
TCU can’t take too much solace in losing to a fellow 2010 College World Series team, especially after laying duds to Houston Baptist — which was the Huskies’ first win of the season — a loss at UT-Arlington and a home loss to New Mexico.
“My freshman year I was a redshirt, so I didn’t travel here [to play Oklahoma],” sophomore third baseman Jantzen Witte said. “But last year was definitely a similar game to this. The good thing is at the end of last year we ended up in Omaha, so we’re trying to do the same thing here.”
This year, the Frogs are making a case for an early NCAA Regional exit before they have a chance to win another College World Series berth.
Following a 10-3 homestand, TCU climbed the weekly college baseball rankings, but the team has been glaringly inconsistent throughout the season.
When the Frogs play badly, bad teams beat them, and when the Frogs play badly, good teams wallop them. When the NCAA selection committee selects Super Regional locations, the Frogs may not have a top 15 road win on their résumé.
Next Tuesday, the Frogs will find themselves in College Station playing No. 5 Texas A&M. The Frogs must take care of business at San Diego State this weekend and show up against a top 10 Aggie team.
If the Frogs can’t notch some quality wins down the remaining stretch of the regular season, their best-case scenario will be a Super Regional date in Austin at UFCU Disch-Falk Field; their worst-case scenario will be an NCAA Regional exit.
Frogs see seven OU pitchers
Eleven pitchers took the mound in a ball game that took 2 hours and 58 minutes, and seven of those pitchers came from the Oklahoma bullpen. Sooners head coach Sunny Golloway pitches by committee, and the Frogs saw his style in full force.
“I’m sure he’s trying to win the game,” Schlossnagle said. “And I’m sure he’s trying to get guys work when the game’s out of hand. But I don’t know his club.”
OU starting pitcher Jordan John was on a limited pitch count but went a solid three innings, allowing one run on four hits with six Ks. TCU junior starting pitcher Erik Miller couldn’t match John’s outing — it’s safe to assume Miller wasn’t on a limited pitch count after being pulled in the second inning after four runs had scored. Miller fell to 1-6 on the season with a 4.94 ERA.