TCU’s lineup move of Barzilli pays off in rally past Arizona State

TCU spent the off-season thinking about the benefits of moving Elliott Barzilli to second in the lineup.

For an example, see the seventh inning Sunday.

Barzilli came to bat with two outs and the tying run at second and doubled sharply off the glove of third baseman Carter Aldrete, triggering a three-run inning that sent the top-ranked Horned Frogs to a 5-2 victory and series win against Arizona State at Lupton Stadium.

Evan Skoug followed with a bloop double for another run, and Cam Warner singled home the third run to make a winner of right-hander Jared Janczak (2-0), who gave up two runs and struck out four in seven innings.

“It’s definitely a different role,” said Barzilli, who ranked fourth on the team in RBIs last year hitting fifth or sixth in all but five games. He has hit second in every game this year. “What I like about it is just more at-bats, honestly. You get more opportunities for hits. I’m struggling a little bit. But it’s a new role. I’m getting used to it. I couldn’t be happier.”

Barzilli was in an 0-for-12 slide before homering Friday night, the start of a 5-for-10 stretch that included Sunday’s game-tying double and an RBI double on Saturday. Even with a two-game slump, he’s second on the team with a .516 slugging percentage.

“We talked about trying to hit him second, trying to get him a couple more at-bats during the course of a game or a weekend,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “He’s certainly capable of driving in runs. The depth of our lineup shows up through the course of a game.”

Janczak counted on that after he gave up the first runs of the game in a two-run fifth. Two singles opened the inning, and after a sacrifice, a ground ball and a single gave Arizona State a 2-0 lead.

TCU got a run back on Austen Wade’s ground ball, but Janczak left trailing 2-1 after seven innings.

“With this offense and how patient and experienced these guys are at the plate, I know we’re always an inning away from breaking it up, taking that zero off the board and taking the lead,” Janczak said.

Wade’s run-scoring triple made it 5-2 in the eighth, and Durbin Feltman pitched around two hits in the ninth for his second save.

Sean Wymer threw a scoreless eighth despite a touch of flu, Schlossnagle said.

“We’re certainly not playing our best baseball, but today was a lot cleaner,” Schlossnagle said. “It’s always good to win when you’re not playing your absolute best. So we’ll take it, especially after Friday night.”

The Frogs’ 13-9 loss on Friday night stuck with them, and Schlossnagle said he was impressed by his team’s reaction to their first loss and their ability to come back and win the series.

“I didn’t say much to them. Obviously, it wasn’t good baseball,” he said. “We talk all the time about the equation ‘E plus R equals O,’ event plus your response equals the outcome.

“You have to tip your cap to Arizona State. They got their doors blown in on Tuesday night against Oklahoma State. We didn’t play great, but they played really well. So I challenged our guys: ‘Let’s do the same thing.’ I was really proud of their presence throughout the course of the weekend. It’s a veteran club, so they don’t panic about anything.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2017 at 5:25 PM with the headline "TCU’s lineup move of Barzilli pays off in rally past Arizona State."