FORT WORTH – The Wildcats had no answer to left-handed freshman Chase Hoover.

TCU baseball captured a 7-0 shutout victory against Abilene Christian on Tuesday. Hoover struck out five batters in seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks.

Head coach Kirk Saarloos said the Frogs need to “play a bunch” to get the bad taste out of their mouth from the weekend series loss to Oklahoma to start Big 12 Conference play.

“I think that was as good as we’ve played in terms of all three areas,” Saarloos said, referring to hitting, pitching and fielding. “You know, we’ve swung it better, Yeah. But we played really good defense, and we turned three double plays in the first three innings.”

The Frogs are set to play five games in six days at Lupton Baseball Stadium and need to save arms in the bullpen. Considering this, Saarloos said Hoover’s performance was “just what the doctor ordered” and added the lefty is making a strong argument to earn more innings.

Hoover said his goal was to save arms in the bullpen by “eating up as many innings” as he could with efficient pitching.

“I was just learning as I was going along,” Hoover said. “Just building off the previous inning … and trying to figure stuff out and, you know, throw more strikes and go deep into the game.”

After the win, Hoover was forced to stand in front of the team during the TCU alma mater. He tried to creep away, but his teammates made him stay put and take credit for a spectacular outing.

Following the seventh inning, Cohen Feser took over on the mound, tossing two scoreless frames and allowing one hit. He struck out four of the seven batters he faced.

Saarloos said Feser “does what he does”, which is filling up the strike zone. He mentioned Feser did a good job of “bringing it home.”

“We’ve got to make sure that we have enough arms for tomorrow,” Saarloos said.

Blanking the Wildcats

After a scoreless first two innings by both teams, left fielder Luke Boyers gave the Frogs the lead with a 401-foot home run that landed in the Frogs’ bullpen beyond the left field fence; the home run had an exit velocity of 106 mph.

“I was just trying to stay ahead in counts and get my swing off,” Boyers said. “It ended paying dividends for me.”

Boyers is batting .208 this season but leads the team with a .425 on base percentage. The veteran outfielder said he tries to “see the ball deep”, which helps him draw walks but also causes him to get behind in counts.

“Tonight, you know, I really wanted to swing it and start trying to hit the ball again,” Boyers said. “And so I was just trying to be aggressive.”

To start the next inning, right fielder Austin Davis sent another baseball to the Frog bullpen, tallying TCU’s second home run of the day. After centerfielder Elijah Nunez and catcher Karson Bowen singled with well-placed grounders, first baseman David Bishop nearly ended the inning with a double play, but Wildcat second baseman Bash Randle threw the ball in the dirt.

The error caused a run to score and opened up the floodgates. After a single from shortstop Anthony Silva, Boyers recorded his second and third RBIs of the day with a double to right field. In the bottom of the seventh, the Frogs added one more insurance run after a pair of Wildcat defensive mistakes.

The Frogs, on the other hand, capitalized in the field, tallying zero errors. The performance was a promising one, considering the team’s defensive struggles this season.

Up next

TCU will take the field at Lupton Baseball Stadium Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Braeden Sloan will start on the mound. On Friday, the Frogs will commence a weekend series against Kansas.