After edging the Houston Cougars Friday night, No. 16 TCU baseball suffered consecutive losses for the first time this season as they were edged by Texas A&M and blown out by Rice.
Lodolo shines in victory over Houston
Junior pitcher Nick Lodolo continued his hot streak to begin the season as he fanned a career-high 13 batters en route to a 10-6 win over Houston in the opening game of the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic.
Lodolo retired the first 14 batters he faced and only saw a maximum of four batters in each of the seven innings he pitched in. He allowed only one earned run on two hits and walked one batter.
The one blemish on his line was a solo home run to lead off the seventh inning.
Despite his successes to begin the season, Friday’s game marked
Lodolo has 23 strikeouts in the last 14 innings he has pitched.
The Frogs jumped out to an early lead as they opened up with a three-run first inning as a home run from Alex Isola scored Josh Watson and Jake Guenther. They doubled their lead in the fourth inning with another three-run homer, this time off the bat of Andrew Keefer.
TCU responded to Houston’s seventh-inning run with their third and final three-run inning of the night. Austin Henry opened up the inning with a triple and scored on a Guenther base hit. One-run RBIs from Keefer and Conner Shepherd plated the final two runs of the inning.
Cal Coughlin was called on out of the bullpen to replace Lodolo in the eighth inning and allowed two runs on two hits in the inning.
Houston scored two runs in the eighth inning to inch closer, but TCU responded yet again with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly off the bat of Johnny Rizer to score Henry.
The Cougars threatened in the ninth inning as they scored three runs with two outs and saw the tying run come to the plate. Two bases-loaded walks and an error scored all three runs and a game-saving catch from Rizer at the wall clinched Charles King’s first save of the season.
Four Horned Frog pitchers would see the mound in the inning: Marcelo Perez, Dawson Barr, Augie Mihlbauer and Charles King. Perez earned the first two outs of the inning, but Barr and Mihlbauer combined for 19 pitches and zero outs.
The win marked TCU’s eighth-consecutive win at the Shriners Classic.
No. 16 Baseball edged by Texas A&M, 1-0
TCU baseball could not solve Texas A&M’s pitching staff Saturday night as they fell to the Aggies while only recording one hit in the game.
For the second night in a row, the Horned Frogs got everything they could ask for from their starting pitcher. Brandon Williamson, in his third career start for the Frogs, held Texas A&M to a run on two hits while walking three and striking out five batters in five innings of work.
All three walks were consecutive and amounted to the only run of the ballgame. Allonte Wingate, who singled to open the inning, scored after Williamson’s third walk.
Jake Eissler relieved Williamson in the sixth inning and finished the game. He allowed only two hits and fanned three batters.
The Horned Frogs were able to get the lead-off batter on seven times in the game but never advanced the runner to second base as Asa Lacy kept TCU’s offense quiet all night. TCU’s one hit in the game came in the sixth inning on a infield single from Hunter Wolfe.
Lacy allowed one hit, three walks and struck out nine batters in his seven innings of work. Texas A&M’s three relievers allowed two walks and fanned two in the final two innings.
Rice blows past No. 16 baseball, 12-2
Rice scored early and often as they powered past TCU in the final game of the Shriners Classic, giving them a record of 1-2 on the weekend.
Rice opened up their scoring with a three-run second inning. Rice was able to load the bases in the inning, and a walk, hit batter and sacrifice fly plated the runners.
Wolfe put the Horned Frogs back in the scoring column for the first time since Friday as he opened up the third inning with a triple and later scored on an RBI from Porter Brown.
The Frogs came within one run in the fifth after a throwing error from the shortstop scored Brown, but that was the closest they would be for the rest of the evening. Rice responded with a trio of runs in the bottom of the inning.
The Owls would continue to extend their lead in the sixth inning with six runs, five of which came with two outs. Four were unearned as they scored following a dropped fly ball.
The game ended in the seventh inning due to the ten-run mercy rule.
Jared Janczak earned the loss, bringing him to 0-2 on the young season. He pitched 1.2 innings, but allowed three runs on two hits, two walks and zero strikeouts.
The Horned Frogs will return to the diamond against Stephen F. Austin before heading back on the road. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. Tuesday at Lupton Stadium.
