TCU’s CWS run ended in heartbreak, but the Horned Frogs will remember the journey there
The bottom of the ninth inning during Wednesday’s College World Series’ 3-2 loss to Florida was a microcosm of TCU’s baseball season.
Trailing by one versus the Gators, Elijah Nunez led off and struck out swinging. He went 0-5 in the game with three strikeouts. The Horned Frogs began 2023 sluggish, with some quality wins against Vanderbilt and Arkansas, but with bad losses such as vs San Diego and UNC Wilmington.
Next, Karson Bowen grounded out, leaving TCU to its final out. After being swept by West Virginia in late April, the Horned Frogs sat with a 22-18 record and in sixth place in the Big 12. The preseason No. 15 team were projected to miss the NCAA tournament with four weeks until the postseason.
But the Horned Frogs changed the trajectory of their season after that series, winning 20 of their next 24 games, winning the Big 12 tournament, upsetting Arkansas in the Fayetteville Regional and defeating No. 14 Indiana State to advance to the CWS.
“When we got swept by West Virginia, we had a decision to make in the course of where this season was going to go,” said TCU coach Kirk Saarlos. “I think as a unit we just came together and we played TCU brand of baseball. And there’s nothing that can really compete with that. And just from that point on, it’s just been awesome just watching this team develop and the friendships that we’ve all had. It’s the tightest group that I’ve ever been a part of. And just been a phenomenal group.”
After losing the first game of the tournament to Oral Roberts, TCU turned around and defeated No. 7 Virginia and ORU in a rematch to play Florida for a chance to advance to the CWS championship series.
TCU, behind solid pitching from Kole Klecker and Ben Abeldt, kept the Gator’s NCAA home run leading offense quiet, but the Horned Frogs could only get one run themselves. In the eighth, Anthony Silva hit a ground-rule double inches past Florida center fielder Wyatt Langford’s reach to tie the game at two, but Florida would retake the lead in the top of the ninth.
Brayden Taylor, TCU’s leader and All-American, symbolized the Horned Frogs last chance.
“I went up there taking my same approach I always do,” Taylor said. “Even though the moment may have seemed a little bit bigger, but I was just going up there, trying to get a good pitch to hit, put a good swing on it.”
Facing an All-American pitcher, he smashed a ball 110 mph off his bat that traveled 411 feet to center field of Charles Schwab Field and in Michael Robertson’s glove against the outfield wall for the final out.
“I put a good swing on it, I thought it may have a chance,” Taylor said. “The emotions that ran through my head after that was — it’s going to be tough. Not very many words. It’s hard to put into words right now.”
Like the ninth inning was for TCU, the 2023 season started slow, got worse, but the Horned Frogs fought back to reach a point where they could compete with college baseball’s best. Taylor’s potential game-tying home run fell just short, like TCU as a team this season. Yet, the Horned Frogs won’t forget either.
“The story and the journey that they took us on this year will never be forgotten. I think it completely changes our program in terms of what they did from the middle part of the season until now. It just stinks that it’s over. But I’ve never been more proud of a group.”
This story was originally published June 22, 2023 at 12:00 AM.