TCU baseball coach Kirk Saarloos ejected during Big 12 tournament loss to Texas
TCU coach Kirk Saarloos joked after Wednesday’s Big 12 tournament win that he needed to keep a lid on his emotions after flirting with an ejection.
That lid went flying off Thursday during a 5-3 loss to the Texas Longhorns at Globe Life Field.
Saarloos was tossed by home plate umpire Casey Moser after relief pitcher Luke Savage was called for a run-scoring balk.
It was the second run in the inning and gave the Longhorns a three-run lead.
The loss pushed the Horned Frogs into the losers’ bracket. To win the tournament, they’ll have to win four consecutive games, including a potential rematch with Texas at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Saarloos contended that he stepped out of the dugout and motioned to walk the next batter, Longhorns slugger Ivan Melendez, who leads the nation with 28 home runs, and not to argue the balk.
“I think I should have been ejected if I let Ivan Melendez hit with a base open,” Saarloos quipped after the game. “I was just motioning to walk Ivan Melendez and they saw it different. It was just a miscommunication.”
The top-seeded Horned Frogs play No. 4 Oklahoma State in an elimination game at 3:15 p.m. Friday. The No. 5 Longhorns will take on the winner of that game at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“I’ve got to stop doing that,” Saarloos said after a heated exchange Wednesday with home plate umpire Christopher Griffith, who called reliever Augie Mihlbauer for a balk. Saarloos jumped back in the dugout after a lengthy shouting match as Griffith took a step in Saarloos’ direction, seemingly on the verge of ejecting him.
“My blood pressure gets too high. Chris did a good job and I apologized to him.” Saarloos said. “You get caught up in the heat of the game, in a big situation. He’s doing his job and I’m trying to do mine. And I’m always going to have the backs of our players.”
Saarloos suggested that Griffith probably correctly called a balk in TCU’s 4-2 win over Baylor.
“I need to bite my tongue a little bit more but that’s kind of who I am,” he said. “I’m competitive just like all our players are. Sometimes maybe I need to pull it back a little bit.”
Gray Rodgers hit a solo homer in the ninth inning to pull the Frogs to within 5-3 but Texas pitchers limited TCU to four hits, including starter Lucas Gordon (7-1) who held the Frogs to two runs (one earned) on two hits and two walks over 7 2/3 innings.
Marcelo Perez (6-3) allowed a three-run homer to Murphy Stehly in the first inning but regrouped and held Texas scoreless the next six innings.
“It was supposed to be a slider down and away and I left it down the middle,” Perez said of the homer.
Perez said Saarloos’ ejection is a motivator. “We know he has our backs. And we have his back. It definitely fires us up,” he said.
Right-hander Riley Cornelio (4-4, 4.03 ERA) will start against Oklahoma State (37-19) on Friday.
Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament
(at Globe Life Field)
Thursday’s results
Oklahoma State 11, Baylor 1 (7)
Kansas State 8, West Virginia 5
Texas 5, TCU 3
Oklahoma 6, Texas Tech 3
Wednesday’s results
No. 5 Texas 4, No. 4 Oklahoma State 0
No. 1 TCU 4, No. 8 Baylor 2
No. 2 Texas Tech 5, No. 7 Kansas State 3
No. 3 Oklahoma 6, No. 6 West Virginia 4
Friday’s games
TCU vs. Oklahoma State, 3:15 p.m., ESPN+
Texas Tech vs. Kansas State, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Saturday’s games
TCU/OSU Winner vs. Texas, 9 a.m., ESPN+
Oklahoma vs. Texas Tech/KState Winner, 12:30 p.m., ESPN+
Game 11 Loser vs. Game 11 Winner (if necessary), 4 p.m., ESPN+
Game 12 Loser vs. Game 12 Winner (if necessary), 4 p.m. or 7:30 p.m., ESPN+
Sunday’s game
Championship game, 5 p.m., ESPNU
This story was originally published May 26, 2022 at 9:37 PM.
