Rare TCU bunt produces close win against K-State

The bunt doesn’t do much for TCU. Mainly because the Horned Frogs hardly ever ask.

Mason Hesse’s bunt in the seventh inning Thursday night, scoring Dane Steinhagen with the go-ahead run in a 3-2 victory against Kansas State at Lupton Stadium, was only the seventh sacrifice bunt of the season for TCU.

But it paid off bigger than any other, securing a victory in the opener of the Big 12 series for the Frogs (36-14, 13-9), who inched within half a game of second place in the conference standings.

“It was a big spot. Coach gave it to me. I knew I had to get it down,” said Hesse, a junior from Temple who platoons and typically hits ninth. “It wasn’t the best bunt, but Dane bailed me out. He had a great slide at the end.”

The play made a winner of freshman reliever Sean Wymer (2-0), who struck out six in four perfect innings before Durbin Feltman worked around a leadoff hit in the ninth to record his fifth save. The TCU bullpen retired 15 of 16 batters faced after starter Brian Howard went four innings.

“He changed the whole momentum of the game by just coming in and throwing strikes, staying ahead of hitters,” coach Jim Schlossnagle said of Wymer, a right-hander from Flower Mound. “Just really did a heck of a good job because Brian didn’t have a good night. They had him on the ropes the whole night.”

Steinhagen’s two-run single in the fourth inning tied the game for TCU and gave him the team RBI lead with 45.

He finished with two hits, along with Luken Baker, Elliott Barzilli and Josh Watson. But the Frogs were only 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

Steinhagen set up the seventh with a leadoff single, and pinch hitter Austen Wade singled him to third. On the first pitch, Hesse tapped the ball a short distance on the grass to the right of home plate, and Steinhagen beat a tag with his left hand.

“Dane had a great jump and a great slide,” Schlossnagle said.

Still, the game belonged to the bullpen, which allowed the team to escape with a second 3-2 victory this week. It evened the Frogs at 5-5 in one-run games this season.

“Especially when you get in the postseason, there’s going to be a lot of close games,” Schlossnagle said. “It’s good for a young group, especially for a young pitching staff. Feltman’s wanted to pitch in close games, in save opportunities, and we haven’t had too many of those.”

TCU relievers have retired 29 of their last 30 batters faced, dating to the series finale against Baylor. Relievers Preston Guillory, Ryan Burnett and Brian Trieglaff retired 10 straight against Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday. The streak was at 26 consecutive retired when Feltman gave up a leadoff single to Josh Rolette in the ninth Thursday.

“He threw strikes whenever we needed strikes to be thrown,” Hesse said of Wymer, who threw 51 pitches, 34 for strikes. “He really set the tempo for the rest of the game. The momentum automatically switched as soon as he came in and threw that first strike.”

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 10:24 PM with the headline "Rare TCU bunt produces close win against K-State."