Omaha story: TCU roommates Merrill, Howard keep a season alive at CWS

They are roommates, so TCU pitcher Brian Howard has had a lot of chances to hear College World Series stories from Omaha native Ryan Merrill.

“He’s been here since he was a kid,” Howard said. “He always tells me about, ‘I saw them win the national championship here,’ and all that stuff.”

Now the kid has his own moment.

Merrill, a senior shortstop who played 18 miles away at Millard West High School, homered in the third inning Tuesday at TD Ameritrade Park to back Howard in the Horned Frogs’ 4-1 victory against Texas A&M at the College World Series.

The win kept TCU (48-17) alive in the elimination bracket and knocked A&M out of the NCAA Tournament at the hands of the Horned Frogs for a third consecutive season and fourth time since 2012.

The Frogs will meet the Florida-Louisville loser at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The Aggies (41-23) lost a seventh consecutive CWS game, tied for the fourth-longest such mark.

“I normally take everything in and try not to show emotion or move or cheer while we’re on offense when I’m pitching, but immediately, when it was hit, I jumped to the top of the rail and started going nuts,” Howard said, recalling Merrill’s home run that led off the third inning for a 2-0 lead. “I mean, that just was a special moment for everyone. It was just really neat to see that.”

Howard matched a career-high with 12 strikeouts, which matched the most in a CWS game at TD Ameritrade Park. He was lifted after a double by George Janca to start the eighth inning.

Sean Wymer entered and pitched two perfect innings for his second save, making Howard (12-3) unbeaten in his last six NCAA Tournament starts, including two at the College World Series.

“Big Game Howie, as he’s affectionately known in Fort Worth, showed up today,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Just amazing, especially given the great pitching of our program in the last 14 years.”

Howard, an eighth-round pick of the Oakland Athletics last week, is 2-0 with a 1.10 ERA, 19 strikeouts and three walks in two CWS starts. He defeated national champion Coastal Carolina last season in Omaha.

“My teammates are putting me in position to play in the postseason and then doing great things behind me and offensively when I get the ball,” he said. “Because, I mean, it’s about run support to get wins. If I go out there and dominate and they don’t score any runs, I lose. It’s really my teammates going out there and doing what they do for me, playing great defense and putting runs on the board and letting me get some breathing room and then go execute pitches.”

Merrill’s home run hit the back of the bullpen in right field, giving him a moment he daydreamed about growing up. It was his sixth home run of the season.

He told his teammates he blacked out around first base.

“I don’t hit many home runs, so I was sprinting,” Merrill said. “As soon as I saw it leave, that’s when it hit me just how cool that experience is.”

The Frogs added two more runs in the inning on Evan Skoug’s double to right-center (his seventh extra-base hit in NCAA postseason) to score Zach Humphreys, who was hit by a pitch, and Elliott Barzilli’s single to right to score Skoug.

Connor Wanhanen had a first inning RBI on a ground ball for TCU.

The Aggies got their run on Braden Shewmake’s ground ball to second base in the sixth inning, scoring Austin Homan after Cole Bedford’s double.

“I think today was probably the best stuff I had all season,” Howard said. “I’m pumped I didn’t walk anybody. I didn’t give up any free bases. I felt like I was attacking the strike zone from the beginning, and I was able to carry that through.”

The win ended a three-game losing streak for TCU in Omaha. The Horned Frogs, shut out in their opener on Sunday by Florida, have won at least one game every time they have appeared in the College World Series.

“I’m just excited we get to keep playing baseball,” Merrill said. “That’s what it’s about, and we’re having fun. So I just want to keep playing.”

Maybe it’ll mean another story.

This story was originally published June 20, 2017 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Omaha story: TCU roommates Merrill, Howard keep a season alive at CWS."