Baseball: Pitching woes mount as TCU loses series against Arizona State

The Horned Frogs allowed 38 runs over their final two games this weekend.

A promising start to their Big 12 series opener against Arizona State wasn’t enough for the TCU Horned Frogs, who allowed 38 runs over their final two series games and conceded a pair of losses to the Sun Devils at Lupton Stadium over the weekend. Despite solid outings from Tommy LaPour and Braeden Sloan in the series opener Friday evening, TCU failed to deliver on the mound Saturday and Sunday, surrendering a combined 40 hits to the Sun Devil offense. The Horned Frogs (14-6, 1-2 Big 12) will look to regroup during their road trip this week, which begins with a nonconference matchup at Dallas Baptist on Tuesday night.

Friday: TCU 3, Arizona State 2

Tommy LaPour started on the mound for the Horned Frogs, firing five frames while striking out three batters and holding Arizona State to two runs (one unearned). Braeden Sloan took the ball over the final four frames, shutting out the Sun Devil offense and striking out four batters to earn his second save of the season. Sloan lowered his season ERA to 0.45 over 20 innings pitched, while LaPour recorded the victory, moving to 2-2 with a 3.16 ERA this year.

Freshman Noah Franco gave the Horned Frogs a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning, belting an opposite-field home run over the left-field wall. After the Sun Devils scratched two runs and evened the score in the top of the third inning, TCU regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, where outfielder Sawyer Strosnider reached on a fielder’s choice to give the Horned Frogs a one-run lead. TCU compiled 10 hits in the win.

Saturday: Arizona State 26, TCU 9

The second game of the series was a pitching disaster for the Horned Frogs, who allowed at least one run in eight of the nine innings played. TCU also committed four defensive errors, which led to eight unearned runs for the Sun Devil offense. Left-hander Mason Brassfield started on the mound and entered the game with a 1.26 ERA, but the freshman surrendered six earned runs on seven hits over just one frame of work. Right-handers Mason Bixby and Trever Baumler also endured rough outings, as the sophomore Bixby allowed four runs on four hits over one inning before handing the ball to Baumler, who conceded 10 runs (only two earned) on nine hits across only one and two-thirds innings on the pitcher’s mound.

Arizona State led 10-0 after two innings and ballooned its lead to 20-0 after four frames. Despite the lopsided defeat, TCU rallied for seven runs during the eighth inning, where infielders Jack Bell and Brody Green each smacked run-scoring doubles and outfielder Sawyer Strosnider added a run-scoring single. Jack Arthur went 2-for-2 off the bench, hitting a pair of singles for the Horned Frogs, who finished with 10 hits in the loss. Carson Cormier and Gianluca Shinn each pitched two and one-third innings and allowed four runs.

Sunday: Arizona State 12, TCU 11

The Horned Frogs showed promise early in their rubber matchup, breaking a 1-1 tie with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, where Noah Franco blasted a two-run homer over the right-center field wall to continue his strong offensive series. Franco also fared well on the pitcher’s mound, where the freshman fired four and two-thirds innings with five strikeouts while holding Arizona State to one run on three hits. The Sun Devils flipped the script in the top of the sixth inning, however, exploding for six runs to take a 7-3 lead over TCU.

Relief pitching proved to be the downfall on Sunday, as Louis Rodriguez and California transfer Trey Neumann combined to allow three walks and five earned runs while recording only one out. Brody Green delivered a clutch two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring the Horned Frogs within two, but the Sun Devils again placed a crooked number on the scoreboard, tallying five runs in the top of the ninth inning, where a grand slam off TCU’s Cohen Feser enabled the Sun Devils to take a 12-5 lead into the bottom half.

The Horned Frog bats did all they could to rally back in the bottom of the ninth inning, where Franco sparked the surge with a run-scoring single before outfielders Sawyer Strosnider and Jack Arthur each bashed two-run triples to continue the string of quality at-bats. Shortstop Anthony Silva’s RBI groundout brought TCU within one run, but the Horned Frogs couldn’t complete the comeback. TCU once again finished the game with 10 hits.