Luken Baker homers again as TCU reaches Big 12 championship game

Luken Baker didn’t care if he homered for a third time in four games.

And then he homered for a third time in four games.

The TCU freshman launched a towering drive to left field that came down on a beam high above the seats, bounced and hit the outside of a hotel across the alley from Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark and settled somewhere unseen.

The blast scored three runs and sent the Horned Frogs to an 8-2 victory against Texas in the second of two games Saturday at the Big 12 tournament, putting them in the championship game.

TCU will play West Virginia at 1 p.m. Sunday, going for its second league tournament title in three seasons.

Baker finished with five RBIs. He is 12-for-17 with a double, a home run, nine RBIs and a 1.294 slugging percentage in the tournament.

“The kid’s been pretty good so far this tournament,” pitcher Brian Howard said with a playful smile.

Baker has homered in each of TCU’s wins in Oklahoma City, and he has homers in four of the past nine games.

But when he came to bat in the fifth inning with runners on first and second and TCU trailing 2-1, he wasn’t thinking big.

“Brian was pitching his butt off. I was really just trying to do anything but ground into a double play,” he said. “And it worked out.”

The 6-foot-4, 265-pound designated hitter from Spring also singled in the first run of the game, and he singled in a run in the next inning.

“Like I said a few days ago, just being more aggressive, and it’s really working out for me,” he said. “I’m getting pitches to hit, and I’m taking advantage of it.”

Schlossnagle explained why.

“He’s learning how to get the barrel out a little bit, and now he’s learning count leverage and when he can get to a ball,” he said. “And that becomes a scary thing.”

TCU lost 2-1 earlier Saturday to Texas on a walk-off home run that forced the second game. Kody Clemens’ drive to center with one out in the ninth inning snapped TCU’s seven-game winning streak, which matched a season high.

Evan Skoug’s first-inning double drove in the only run for TCU in Game 1, a pitching duel between TCU’s Jared Janczak and Texas’ Connor Mayes. Janczak went a season-high 6 1/3 innings, and Mayes went 6. Neither pitcher issued a walk, and they turned a 1-1 game over to the bullpens.

“We came back with a little bit of energy and a little bit of attitude and played a really good baseball game,” said Howard, who allowed five hits and two runs in six innings of the Game 2 start. “I thought it was a good test for our team because that can happen in a regional.”

Elliott Barzilli went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs in Game 2 for TCU, and reserve first baseman Michael Landestoy went 3-for-4 and started a game-ending double play by snagging a line drive in mid-air.

But Saturday’s top moment belonged to Baker — when he wasn’t looking for a home run, and neither was his coach.

“You just know he’s going to put together a quality at-bat,” Schlossnagle said. “Whether it’s going to be a home run or not, who knows? But you know he’s going to put together an AB. He’s not going to give one away, especially in that situation.”

Game 1

Game 2

This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Luken Baker homers again as TCU reaches Big 12 championship game."