TCU baseball loses its first home game of the season, falling to Abilene Christian
TCU baseball lost its first home game in surprising fashion Tuesday night.
Abilene Christian pulled away for a 6-2 victory over TCU at Lupton Stadium, one week after TCU defeated that same team 14-3 with run-rule victory in seven innings in Abilene on March 22.
It’s just the second time the Wildcats have defeated the Frogs in the all-time series (26-2). TCU (18-6) ended its four-game winning streak.
“Tonight was just a bad night offensively, a bad night in terms of that four-run (fourth) inning and that’s the difference between winning and losing the game,” TCU coach Kirk Saarloos said. “They came in here and did a really good job of being ready to play.”
Abilene Christian took a 4-1 lead with a four-run fourth inning. ACU had its first runner reach on a one-out walk followed by a two-run home run by Colton Eager, who hammered a ball over the right-field fence with the wind blowing in from that direction much of the night.
It was the fourth home run of the season for Eager, a Fort Worth Christian product.
The Wildcats then had runners reach on a walk and a hit by pitch, both of whom scored on a double by Tanner Tweedt. TCU cut the deficit to 4-2 with a single run in the bottom half of the fourth, but ACU added a couple of insurance runs in the sixth. The Wildcats scored runs on doubles by Miller Ladusau and Bryson Hill.
TCU, meanwhile, matched its season low with six hits on the night. Credit ACU’s pitching staff of Garrett Egli, Connor Carlton and Tanner Riley. Those three combined for 11 strikeouts to two walks.
The Frogs’ pitching staff of Caedmon Parker, Cohen Feser, Caleb Bolden, Tommy Vail and Braxton Pearson combined for five strikeouts and four walks.
“We can’t give our opponent more free bases than they give us,” Saarloos said. “I don’t think any team can sustain playing good baseball by doing that. We win the freebie war, we win games. When we don’t, we lose. It’s pretty simple.”
The good news for TCU is that this loss won’t linger long. The Frogs return to action against UT San Antonio on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Lupton Stadium.
Junior left-hander Connor Oliver is scheduled to start for the Frogs.
“Anytime you lose, you want to play right again,” Saarloos said. “So we get to play tomorrow and play better baseball.”
