The TCU Horned Frogs were shut out by Long Beach State Tuesday night in the final game of the California road trip.
Long Beach state had two big innings that contributed to a 7-0 loss for No. 3 TCU.
The last time TCU was shutout was on April 22, 2016 at Oklahoma State.
TCU threatened in the first inning after Austen Wade and Luken Baker were walked. With two on and outs, Josh Watson hit a shot to the deepest part of the ballpark where it was seized by the center fielder to end the inning.
Josh Watson has extended his career-long hitting streak to 11 games when he hit a single to centerfield in the sixth inning.
TCU left at least one teammate on base in seven of the nine innings played. TCU’s offense could not take advantage of their five hits and three walks and failed to extend the frame beyond four batters.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth. Long Beach State capitalized on lead-off batter Luke Rasmussen’s single and scored on an RBI triple by Lucas Tancas. A groundout RBI and a solo home run put the Dirtbags up 3-0.
A bases-loaded error in the eighth inning quickly made the win unattainable for the Frogs. A hit by pitch, single, and intentional walk loaded the bases for LBSU with one out. A walk by Durbin Feltman brought in the first run of the frame. Ramsey Romano sent a solid hit over to third, where Elliot Barzilli had it shoot in between his legs into left field. The fielding error allowed three unearned runs to run the score up 7-0.
Brian Howard (2-2) redeemed himself Tuesday night as he started the game, and pitched a perfect first inning. Howard gave up four runs in the first inning against LSU on March 3 and eight runs in the first in their UC Irvine series opener March 10.
Dalton Horton (0-1) took the loss after allowing three runs on five hits in only four innings of work. Sean Wymer pitched two scoreless innings and notched two strikeouts. Feltman pitched the last inning and because of the error, had four runs against him but had 3 strikeouts to end the frame.
TCU recorded double-digit strikeouts for the ninth time this season.
The Frogs fall to 12-4 so far this season. Big 12 Conference play opens Friday night when the Kansas Jayhawks visit Fort Worth for a three game series. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m.
