TCU baseball makes statement with 7-2 victory over Texas Tech in Big 12 tournament
Nobody doubted how Haylen Green would respond. Not his teammates. Not coach Jim Schlossnagle.
Any thought that TCU’s All-Big 12 closer would have lingering effects from blowing a four-run lead at Kansas State in the regular-season finale last weekend were quieted on Friday morning.
Green made his first appearance since that gut-wrenching performance, closing out TCU’s 7-2 victory over Texas Tech in the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City.
“It was awesome. I didn’t expect anything different,” Schlossnagle said. “As I said to him in front of the team when we got back last Saturday, whether we’re up one run or up five or up seven, if he’s available to pitch, he’s pitching. There’s nobody we’d want on the mound more than Haylen in those moments.”
Added TCU left-handed starter Russell Smith, who had 10 strikeouts on Friday: “He’s easily our most trusted guy. Everyone is at ease when he’s on the mound. We know he’s going to go out there and compete and throw strikes. That’s all you can ask from a teammate.”
Green entered Friday with one out and the potential game-tying run at the plate in the eighth inning of a 5-2 game. He induced a fielder’s choice groundout by Tech’s Jace Jung, which was initially ruled an inning-ending double play before being overturned upon review.
Green wasn’t fazed by the reversal, ending the inning with a strikeout of Tech’s Cole Stilwell.
TCU’s offense provided some cushion with two runs in the bottom of the eighth. Green worked around a single and a walk in a scoreless ninth.
Green was the story of the game given that Schlossnagle referred to the regular-season finale as the toughest loss he’s experienced in 30 years of coaching. But TCU had others step up too.
Smith allowed two runs on three hits with two walks and 10 strikeouts over six innings. The 116-pitch outing was his deepest in more than a month when he went six innings against Oklahoma State on April 17.
“I feel like today was a day I had to compete,” Smith said. “Stuff-wise, it wasn’t great the first few innings. I didn’t have a feel for my changeup, but I felt like I was attacking well with my fastball. This week is the most I’ve felt like myself in five or six weeks.”
Reliever Garrett Wright threw a scoreless seventh before running into trouble in the eighth, which was cleaned up be Green.
The pitching staff had the luxury of pitching with a lead all day. TCU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a run-scoring double by Zach Humphreys and a sacrifice fly by Hunter Wolfe. The Frogs made it 4-0 in the third inning, courtesy of an infield single by Wolfe and an error by Tech on the play.
Tech cut the deficit in half to 4-2 in the fifth inning on a two-run home run by Mansfield Legacy product Nate Rombach. That was the only real mistake Smith made on the day, but he responded by striking out the next three batters.
“He gave up the homer and came right back and punched out the side. He was awesome,” Schlossnagle said. “Again, it’s about pitching well at the right time.”
An overarching storyline out of Friday’s game is that the win essentially secures that TCU will host a regional next weekend and potentially puts the team back in the mix for one of the eight national seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Tech is ranked No. 5 in the country by D1Baseball.com, while TCU is at No. 15.
Asked about a national seed afterward, Schlossnagle reiterated his stance that the Big 12 should have three teams among the top eight in TCU, Texas and Texas Tech.
“I feel like our conference being the No. 2 RPI, three teams in the top eight of the RPI going into today, if that was another conference with three letters, we wouldn’t be worried about being a national seed,” Schlossnagle said in a not-so-veiled reference to the SEC. “More importantly it was about us playing well on back-to-back days. But do I believe we deserve that? Yes. Tech and Texas as well. Our league deserves as much respect as anyone else.”
TCU (38-16) advances in the winner’s bracket where it’ll face Kansas State at 9 a.m. Saturday with a trip to the Big 12 championship game on the line. Frogs left-hander Austin Krob is expected to start the game.
If K-State wins the early game, TCU and K-State would play again at 4 p.m. Saturday for a chance to play in the championship game.
TCU and K-State are familiar with each other as the team’s closed the regular season with a three-game series in Manhattan and then faced each other in the opening game of the Big 12 tournament on Wednesday. K-State ended the regular season with a walk-off victory, and TCU responded with its own walk-off win on Wednesday.
This story was originally published May 28, 2021 at 1:33 PM.
