TCU reaction: Frogs won a pitching battle, must keep doing it to have a chance

Dropped into the elimination bracket on its first day, TCU stayed alive at the College World Series with a 4-1 victory against Texas A&M on Tuesday.

The Horned Frogs face more elimination games. They must win three in a row to reach the championship series next week. But they got a boost from Brian Howard’s performance against the Aggies, winning for the 11th time in 14 games and the sixth time in seven NCAA tournament games.

Some thoughts from Tuesday’s game:

1. TCU has given up four runs, yet is 1-1 in the College World Series. Why? Because the Frogs have gotten a good pitching performance and lost to a good pitching performance. Right now, every team lines up against a good arm in every game. “We’re going to have to beat a good pitcher,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. To go any further, the Frogs will have to win pitching battles. It’s unreasonable to expect what Brian Howard delivered Tuesday against Texas A&M, but it’s not that far from what the Frogs will need for one against Louisville and two against Florida.

2. Schlossnagle has kept his bullpen powder dry. He used Sean Wymer for the last six outs of Brian Howard’s outing Tuesday. Sunday, he got four innings from three relievers — two by Cal Coughlin, one each from Haylen Green and Nick Lodolo. The Frogs have not used relievers Charles King, Trey Morris, Jake Eissler, Dalton Brown, Austin Boyles, Dalton Horton or closer Durbin Feltman. They are all multiple-inning possibilities. And if somehow TCU gets to next week, Wymer is a darkhorse candidate to start.

3. They probably don’t keep this stat, but where would Brian Howard’s 76.9 strike percentage rank among TCU performances? He threw 91 pitches, 70 for strikes against Texas A&M. He threw a first-pitch strike to 23 of the 26 batters he faced. He walked none. He hit none. No wild pitches. Twenty swing-and-misses. He called it the best stuff he’s had all year. Who’s going to argue?

4. Lost in the story of roommates Brian Howard and Ryan Merrill getting something new to talk about, Evan Skoug collected himself another extra-base hit in the NCAA tournament. His double in the third inning was his fourth to go with three home runs. All seven of his hits in TCU’s seven NCAA games have been for extra bases. And, he drove in a run with the double, putting him at 68 for the year and 165 for his career. He’s three away from tying for fifth in a season at TCU and three away from tying for fourth all-time at TCU.

5. The Horned Frogs walked twice and struck out 15 times against Florida. They walked twice and struck out eight times against A&M. Better, but the four walks to 23 strikeouts in Omaha so far is way off their season ratio of 1.53 walks to one strikeout. The Frogs were among the country’s best at walks this year. Austen Wade is hitless at the CWS, but he’s walked twice. Connor Wanhanen walked to set up a bases-loaded situation against Florida. Even when they are few and far apart, walks extend innings. They’re a big part of the TCU offense.

This story was originally published June 20, 2017 at 11:04 PM with the headline "TCU reaction: Frogs won a pitching battle, must keep doing it to have a chance."