Luken Baker's two-run bomb starts Big 12 play on right foot for TCU

A player as good as Luken Baker can make a lot of problems disappear in a flash.

Take for instance TCU's game Friday night. The offense, despite a wind-aided home run by Conner Shepherd in the second, was struggling for much of the game against Kansas State starter Kasey Ford.

Entering the eighth, the Horned Frogs had been held to five hits and trailed 2-1.

But after Zach Humphreys started the inning reaching base on a hit by pitch, Baker turned on a 2-2 pitch and belted it over the left-field wall to give TCU a 3-2 lead.

TCU (12-7, 1-0 Big 12) tacked on another run and TCU reliever Durbin Feltman earned the save by striking out the side in the ninth to preserve the 4-2 win over the Wildcats (12-10, 0-1) at Lupton Stadium.

"It’s the sign of a great one," TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "When the game comes calling, even in the conditions, he finds a way to hit it to the part of the park where it will go out."

Lefty Nick Lodolo (3-1) faces Wildcats' right-hander Gabe Littlejim (1-3) in Game 2 of the three-game series at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Augie Mihlbauer took over for starter Jared Janczak in the sixth and struck out four over 2 1/3 dominant, scoreless innings. He earned his first-career win. Schlossnagle said confidence has been Mihlbauer's best asset over the past month.

"It’s definitely the name of the game," said Mihlbauer, a true freshman. "When you come in in messes like that you really need to know that you’ve got the stuff and you’re going to get out of it."

Milhbauer came on with runners on second and third with two out and struck out Cameron Thompson on three pitches to end the inning. It's the Frogs' third win this season when trailing after seven innings.

"He started believing in himself and he started challenging hitters," Schlossnagle said. "There aren't many good swings on him."

Same goes for Feltman, who earned his third save.

Baker's homer shook up what had been a solid night by Ford. He held the Frogs to one run on five hits until Baker jumped on his changeup left up.

"If Humphreys doesn’t get on ahead of me it’s only a tie game," Baker said. "If Shep doesn’t hit that homer earlier and if Augie doesn’t pitch like he did then we’re still down. I was trying to stay back and stay through the ball and saw it spin up and took advantage."

One swing of the bat, such as Baker's' on Friday, can make a coach overlook the fact that entering the game TCU's offense was in the middle of the pack in nearly every statistical category among the 300 teams nationally.

In fact, in just about every offensive category, the Horned Frogs rank no better than 114th. They have the fewest home runs (11) in the Big 12 and they're near the bottom in most offensive categories, including last in sacrifice bunts and flies among conference teams.

Of course, multiple teams, including TCU in 2014, have gone far despite lacking a rip-roaring offense. Great pitching can make up for a lot.

"It may not be as clean, it may not be as fun, and it may be more stressful playing closer games," Schlossnagle said. "We think we can be a better offensive team than we are, but are we going to be elite? I don’t know. Baker and [Josh] Watson and those older guys have to carry us and be good every night [at the moment] and they’re not going to be."

TCU vs. Kansas State

(at Lupton Stadium)

Game 1: TCU 4, K-State 2

Game 2: 2 p.m. Saturday (FSSW)

Game 3: 1 p.m. Sunday (FSSW+)

This story was originally published March 23, 2018 at 10:34 PM with the headline "Luken Baker's two-run bomb starts Big 12 play on right foot for TCU."