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Baseball: TCU scores in the ninth to beat UTSA, 5-4

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Cole Cramer’s one-out sacrifice fly to right field scored Jack Arthur from third base in the bottom of the ninth Tuesday night, lifting the TCU Horned Frogs to a 5-4 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners in Fort Worth.

TCU righthander Cohen Feser (1-0) from San Antonio earned the victory with three innings of scoreless relief. In the top of the ninth, Feser retired three straight batters to give the Horned Frogs a chance to win it in their last at bat.

On the third out of the inning, UTSA’s Mason Lytle hit it hard to left field, but the ball was knocked down by the wind and caught just inside the warning track.

The Horned Frogs opened the bottom half against a new pitcher, Zach Royse, UTSA’s regular Friday night starter. Karson Bowen led off with a drive to right that got over the head of outfielder James Taussig for a double.

After Arthur entered the game as a pinch runner, Royse struck out Isaac Cadena for the first out.

Then, with Cramer at the plate, Royse appeared to surprise UTSA catcher Andrew Stucky with his location on a pitch that caromed off Stucky’s mitt for a passed ball, allowing Arthur to take third.

Cramer followed by sending a fly ball to deep right that allowed Arthur to score, ending the Roadrunners’ six-game winning streak.

For UTSA, it was a missed opportunity in its effort to win road games this season at Texas A&M, Texas and TCU. The Horned Frogs entered the night rated 33rd on the RPI, with UTSA at No. 41, a season-high.

The Roadrunners’ offense wasn’t great. Horned Frogs pitching held them to eight hits, all singles. But UTSA pitching for the most part threw the ball well, save for five walks that gave the Horned Frogs too many chances.

Six hurlers, including Gunnar Brown, Jake Cothran, Connor Kelley, Christian Okerholm, Robert Orloski and Royse, held the Frogs to 10 hits. Royse (2-4) took the loss.

TCU used six pitchers, as well, including Trever Baumler, San Antonio’s Mason Bixby, Kaden Smith, Zack James, Gianluca Shinn and Feser, a 6-foot-2 redshirt junior from Reagan High School.

Bixby, a 6-7 sophomore from Johnson, pitched two innings and allowed one run on two hits. TCU shortstop Anthony Silva, a junior from Clark, went one for three at the plate and scored a run. He had four infield assists, a key putout and a throwing error.

Bowen and Cadena both went two for five for the Horned Frogs. Cadena slammed a solo homer and a double.

For UTSA, Norris McClure had three of UTSA’s eight hits. The transfer from Division II Spring Hill College in Alabama went three for four and scored a run.

After TCU opened the scoring with three runs in the second, the Roadrunners got one back in the third and then scored three in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead.

During the uprising, UTSA had runners at first and second with nobody out when Bowen, TCU’s catcher, fired to second to pick off McClure. It appeared that McClure beat the initial tag attempt by Silva, only to be tagged again when his momentum carried him off the bag.

Without the perfect throw from Bowen and the heads-up tag by Silva, the Roadrunners might have scored more than three runs and could have had a multiple-run lead.

Instead, the Roadrunners had to settle for the one-run margin going into the bottom of the fifth, and that is when Cadena greeted Kelley with a leadoff shot to right that carried well over the wall, tying the score, 4-4.

Records

UTSA 23-8
TCU 22-8

Coming up

UTSA at UAB, Friday, 5 p.m.
UTSA at UAB, Saturday, 2 p.m.
UTSA at UAB, Sunday, 1 p.m.

Baseball: Fast-rising UTSA ready for another challenge at TCU

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Jordan Ballin.

Jordan Ballin has emerged as one of three freshmen, along with Caden Miller and Nathan Hodge, to make a significant impact on a UTSA team that has started 23-7 with victories over Texas A&M and Texas. – File photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

With a 23-7 record, the UTSA Roadrunners have established arguably the best 30-game start in Coach Pat Hallmark’s six years with the program.

After winning on the road at Texas A&M and Texas and starting 5-1 in the American Athletic Conference, they’ll try to add to their body of work tonight when they play a midweek game in Fort Worth against the 21-8 TCU Horned Frogs of the Big 12.

“We’re resilient and persistent, two things we try to be,” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark said. “So we’re prepared, but that doesn’t guarantee you anything. TCU is really good. Kirk Saarloos is a terrific coach. He’s been doing this a long time. He knows what he’s doing.”

The Horned Frogs have started to click with seven wins in their last nine games, including a non-conference road victory at 15th-ranked Dallas Baptist, and a pair of 2-1 Big 12 road series victories over Texas Tech and Houston.

In the most recent ratings percentage index, TCU will enter the game tonight at No. 33 nationally. UTSA is not far behind, slotted in at No. 41, which represents a 30-spot jump from last week.

The Roadrunners made the jump after two straight strong weekends of play in the American. From March 21-23, they won two of three at Charlotte.

Last weekend, they played at home and beat the FAU Owls three straight, coming from behind in each of the victories.

“We can get better on defense, certainly, but (we’re) pleased with the way we played,” Hallmark said.

In the Horned Frogs, the Roadrunners will be facing a midweek challenge that is likely every bit as tough as the Aggies or the Longhorns. TCU is 7-0 in midweek games this season and is 14-0 in midweek home games dating back to 2023.

“Their arms will be really good,” Hallmark said. “They’ll have as good of pitching as anyone we’ve faced. But we’ll be ready. I think we’ll be prepared.”

The Roadrunners are starting to play so well that some have drawn comparisons to Hallmark’s standout teams in 2022 and 2023. Both years, UTSA won 38 games, one win shy of the school record.

In 2022, the Roadrunners rolled out a 30-game start of 19-11, which included a home win over second-ranked Stanford and a road victory at TCU. In 2023, they started 23-7, with the best wins in non-conference coming at home over Houston and on the road at Baylor.

The ’22 team was an offensive juggernaut powered by Leyton Barry, Chase Keng and Ryan Flores. The Roadrunners had nine players batting .300 or better. Luke Malone, who went 9-3 and finished with a 2.67 earned run average, paced a deep pitching staff.

At the end of the season, they got hot and nearly won the Conference USA tournament, beating nationally-ranked Southern Miss twice on its home field before losing in the title game to Louisiana Tech.

In 2023, the Roadrunners had seven players hitting .300 or better, led by Antonio Valdez at .387. Moreover, they also hit 78 home runs.

Paced by Malone and ace reliever Simon Miller, the ’23 team hit its stride late in the C-USA regular season, moving into the Top 25 of multiple national polls in March and early April.

After finishing second in the C-USA at 21-8, the Roadrunners were ousted from the double-elimination tournament after two games. Neither team, in either 2022 or 2023, received an NCAA at-large bid.

This season, the Roadrunners have five regulars batting .300 or better, led by Mason Lytle’s .391. Lytle ranks eighth in NCAA Division I with 50 hits. Newcomer Drew Detlefsen ranks among national leaders in home runs (eight) and RBI (48).

Pitching, perhaps deeper than it has been in previous years, is anchored by starters Zach Royse, Braylon Owens and Conor Myles. Robert Orloski is 7-0 with one save out of the bullpen.

Hallmark said he hasn’t thought much about how his two 38-win teams might compare to this one except to say that a few years ago the Roadrunners were led by older, mature leaders such as Jonathan Tapia, Ian Bailey and Chase Keng (in 2022) and Luke Malone (in 2022 and 2023).

The current team’s level of maturity is similar, the coach said, even though it relies heavily on freshmen such as Jordan Ballin, Caden Miller and Nathan Hodge.

“Athletically,” he said, “I think we might be a tick more athletic this year. We have a good combination of physical kids that can really move pretty good, which you don’t always see at a mid major.

“Then I think our pitching may be similar, with older, more experienced pitchers,” he said. “Guys like Luke Malone were the leaders of those (previous) teams.

“Braylon Owens is one of our leaders (this year). He’s older. He’s been around. So, some similarities in the pitching, (with) strike throwers.”

Records

UTSA 23-7
TCU 21-8

Coming up

UTSA at TCU, tonight, 6 p.m.
UTSA at UAB, Friday, 5 p.m.
UTSA at UAB, Saturday, 2 p.m.
UTSA at UAB, Sunday, 1 p.m.

TCU rolls past Arkansas to win the NCAA Fayetteville Regional

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By Jerry Briggs
For The JB Replay

The TCU Horned Frogs stormed to the NCAA Fayetteville Regional baseball title on Monday with a 12-4 victory over the host Arkansas Razorbacks.

Now it’s on to the Super Regional round of the tournament against the Indiana State Sycamores.

As of 6 p.m. Monday, officials had not announced the game site for the best-of-three, series between TCU (40-22) and Indiana State (45-15).

Kurtis Byrne blasted two home runs and Austin Davis and Tre Richardson hit one apiece as the Frogs won their ninth straight game and completed a 3-0 sweep of their competition in Fayetteville.

San Antonio’s Anthony Silva figured in two of the scoring rallies. In the fourth inning he was hit by a pitch and scored on a two-RBI single by Davis. In the sixth, the TCU freshman from Clark led off with a single to right field and scored the go-ahead run when Davis blasted a two-run homer.

Ben Abelt (3-3) earned the victory by pitching 4 and 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. The lefthander with a quirky delivery allowed only one hit and two walks. He struck out four.

TCU entered the regional in Fayetteville as the No. 2 seed. On Friday, they downed three-seed Arizona 12-4 behind Brayden Taylor’s four-hit, six-RBI barrage.

On Saturday, the Frogs waited out a weather and ultimately never played, pushing the schedule back a day. Sunday, they poured it on the top-seeded Razorbacks, 20-5, with Richardson hitting three home runs and driving in 11.

The Razorbacks, who entered the NCAA tournament as the 64-team field’s No. 3 overall seed, had to drop down to the losers bracket to beat Santa Clara on Sunday night just to stay alive.

As a result, Arkansas entered play Monday needing two victories to win the regional.

For the Razorbacks, it wasn’t meant to be. Even after hitting back-to-back home runs and taking a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth, they couldn’t hold on. The Frogs scored one run in their half of the fifth, three in the sixth, one in the seventh and five in the eighth.

The eighth was memorable for the Frogs. Cole Fontenelle ripped a two-run double. Richardson followed with a two-run homer to center. Then Byrne hit one out to right field for his second homer in two innings.

Offensively, TCU is putting it together at the right time, clinching a regional title en route to the team’s sixth double-figure scoring output since May 24.

NCAA regionals
How the Texas teams have fared

Texas: (41-20) Beat host Miami for the title on Sunday in Coral Gables, Fla.
Texas Tech: (41-23) Lost to host Florida in the title game Monday in Gainesville, Fla.
TCU: (40-22) Defeated host Arkansas Monday to win the title in Fayetteville, Ark.
Texas A&M: (38-26) Scheduled to play at Stanford in the title game Monday night.
Dallas Baptist (47-16) Lost to Oral Roberts in the finals Sunday at Stillwater, Okla.
Sam Houston State: (39-25) Eliminated after three games at Baton Rouge, La.

Texas Tech, TCU and Texas A&M to play for regional titles today

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One team from the state of Texas has advanced to the Super Regional round and three others remain in the hunt leading into Monday’s games in the NCAA baseball tournament.

Here are the details:

Gainesville Regional — Texas Tech (2-1 in the regional) plays host Florida (3-1) at 11 a.m. in the championship game. How did Tech get here? Florida beat Tech 7-1 Saturday night to force a deciding game. What’s next? The winner will move on to the Super Regional round against South Carolina.

Fayetteville Regional — Undefeated TCU (2-0 in the regional) and Arkansas (2-1) play at 2 p.m. in the finals. Another game will follow at 8 p.m., if necessary. TCU needs to win one game to claim the title. Arkansas needs to win twice. How did TCU get here? The Frogs beat the Razorbacks 20-5 Saturday to remain undefeated. Later, Razorbacks beat Santa Clara 6-4 to reach the finals. What’s next? The winner will advance to the Super Regional round against Indiana State.

Stanford Regional — Texas A&M (2-1 in the regional) and host Stanford (3-1) play at 8 p.m. in the championship game. How did A&M get here? Stanford downed the Aggies 13-5 Saturday night to force a deciding game. What’s next? The winner will play the Texas Longhorns in the Super Regional round.

Notable

The Longhorns completed a 3-0 sweep to the Coral Gables Regional title Saturday afternoon when they downed the Miami Hurricanes, 10-6. Texas has advanced to the Super Regionals. Both the Dallas Baptist Patriots and Sam Houston State Bearkats were eliminated Saturday night. Oral Roberts won the Stillwater Regional title with a 6-5 victory over Dallas Baptist (2-2) in the finals. Oregon State downed Sam Houston State (1-2) in an elimination game at the Baton Rouge Regional.

Eye on S.A.-area talent

Dominic Tamez, a junior at Alabama from San Antonio’s Johnson High School, produced two hits, two runs scored and an RBI on Sunday night as the Crimson Tide shut out Boston College 8-0 to win the Tuscaloosa Regional. Tamez also had two hits and two RBIs in an 11-8 victory over Troy on Saturday night. By winning the Tuscaloosa Regional, Alabama will advance to face national No. 1 seeded Wake Forest in the Super Regional round.

Eye on teams from Texas

Texas: 41-20
Texas Tech: 41-22
TCU: 39-22
Texas A&M: 38-26
Dallas Baptist: 47-16
Sam Houston State: 39-25

Richardson-led TCU romps to a 20-5 victory over national No. 3 seed Arkansas

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By Jerry Briggs
For The JB Replay

Second baseman Tre Richardson hit three home runs, including a couple of grand slams, as the TCU Horned Frogs overwhelmed the national No. 3-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks 20-5 Sunday in a weather-delayed winners bracket game at the NCAA Fayetteville Regional.

The teams were set to play on Saturday but had to scratch it and push it back to Sunday. In addition, Sunday’s game was also halted twice because of lightning.

Schedule chaos didn’t seem to bother Richardson, who went five for six on the day and drove in 11 runs. With the victory, the Horned Frogs improved to 2-0 in Fayetteville and advanced to the finals, needing only one victory to win the regional title.

Arkansas, on the other hand, will play Santa Clara in a losers bracket game, with the winner of that contest feeding into the finals against TCU. The Horned Frogs’ opponent will need to win twice in the finals to win the title and advance into next week’s Super Regional round.

TCU came out swinging the bats early, burying Arkansas with six runs in the first inning, five in the second and three in the third. Richardson hit opposite-field grand slams in the first and second. Brayden Taylor, considered a potential first-round pick in this summer’s Major League Baseball draft, added a three-run blast in the third.

Taylor, surging late in the season, finished three for five at the plate with four RBIs. He is on a roll in the NCAA tournament with seven hits in 10 at bats. He also has 10 RBIs, including six on Friday in a 12-4 victory over the Arizona Wildcats.

Schedule updates: Sam Houston State-Tulane to resume play at noon Sunday

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Inclement weather on Saturday forced officials to reschedule games in both the Baton Rouge and Fayetteville regionals.

Lightning in the Baton Rouge area caused the Tulane-Sam Houston elimination game to be suspended. The game will re-start at noon Sunday in the top of the seventh inning with Sam Houston holding a 7-2 lead.

It’s an early elimination game in the bracket, with both teams 0-1 in the regional. The LSU-Oregon State winners bracket game, with both teams 1-0, has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday. LSU is the national No. 5 seed.

In Fayetteville, officials have rescheduled the TCU Horned Frogs and the national No. 3-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks to play at 2 p.m. Sunday in a winners bracket game.

Both TCU and Arkansas are 1-0 in the four-team regional and are hoping to move ahead in the double-elimination format unscathed.

The winner will advance to Monday’s regional title round. The loser will play Santa Clara at 8 p.m. on Sunday night. On Saturday, regional No. 4-seeded Santa Clara ousted Arizona, 9-3.

TCU prepares for Arkansas after romping past Arizona in the Fayetteville Regional

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Brayden Taylor opened his NCAA Fayetteville Regional with four straight hits on Friday, leading the TCU Horned Frogs on a 12-4 romp over the Arizona Wildcats.

Taylor went four for five on the day and produced six RBIs. Sparking an early Horned Frogs surge, he bashed a three-run homer in the first inning and a two-run single in the second. The home run was Taylor’s 22nd on the season.

San Antonio’s Anthony Silva, a freshman shortstop from San Antonio’s Clark High School, was one for four with an RBI.

With the win, the second-seeded Frogs moved into a Saturday night winners bracket game against the regional’s top-seeded host, the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Earlier Friday, Arkansas, seeded third overall in the 64-team NCAA tournament, downed Santa Clara, 13-6.

Baton Rouge Regional

The Oregon State Beavers exploded for 22 hits and broke the school’s postseason record with four home runs in rolling past the Sam Houston State Bearkats, 18-2.

In the first inning, Joe Redfield doubled and Josh Wishkoski followed with a two-run homer for the Bearkats. After that, the Beavers dominated.

Micah McDowell and Gavin Turley each homered and produced six RBIs for the Beavers.

With the win, Oregon State will play Saturday night, facing regional top seed and host LSU in the winners bracket. In the first game on Saturday, Sam Houston State will face the Tulane Green Wave in an elimination game.

Micah Peavy makes successful return for 11th-ranked TCU

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Taiwo, TCU women turn back the UTSA Roadrunners, 74-67

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The TCU women’s basketball team knew it had been in a game Wednesday night after spending 40 minutes on the painted floor at Schollmaier Arena with the UTSA Roadrunners.

Playing at home in Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs held the Roadrunners to four of 15 shooting in the third quarter to take control of the proceedings, en route to a 74-67 victory.

Tomi Taiwo’s fourth 3-pointer of the game with 4:30 remaining in the fourth quarter gave the Frogs a 12-point lead. The Roadrunners never got closer than six the rest of the way.

Saddled with foul trouble early, Jordyn Jenkins led the Roadrunners with 16 points. Elyssa Coleman had 12 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. Off the bench, freshman Siena Guttadauro scored 11 and Deb Nwakamma 10.

Kyra White, playing point guard most of the night for the Roadrunners, had a solid all-around game with eight points, five assists and four rebounds.

Taiwo had 18 points and three steals to lead the Horned Frogs.

All told, it was a solid effort for the Roadrunners, who are two games into their second season under Coach Karen Aston.

The Roadrunners, despite foul trouble, played the Frogs of the Big 12 Conference on even terms in the first half. Guttadauro and Nwakamma each had eight points and a couple of three-pointers off the bench before intermission.

TCU led 23-16 after the first period and, after a competitive second period, held a 37-36 edge on UTSA. Playing better defensively, the Frogs boosted the lead to 54-47 entering the final quarter.

Records

TCU 2-1
UTSA 0-2

Coming up

Abilene Christian at UTSA, Sunday, 2 p.m.

No. 1 seed Arizona eliminates TCU in OT, advances to Sweet 16 in San Antonio

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Pac-12 Player of the Year Bennedict Mathurin scored 30 points, and 7-foot-1 center Christian Koloko sank a put-back with five seconds left in overtime, leading the top-seeded Arizona Wildcats to an 85-80 NCAA tournament victory Sunday night in San Diego.

With the win, the Wildcats will move on to play the Houston Cougars in the Sweet 16. The South region battle betweeen the Wildcats (33-3) and the fifth-seeded Cougars (31-5) will take place on Thursday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

Chuck O’Bannon led the ninth-seeded Horned Frogs (21-13) with a career-high 23 points. Eddie Lampkin and Mike Miles scored 20 apiece. Lampkin pulled down 14 rebounds.

After finishing tied for fifth in the Big 12, the Horned Frogs took a No. 9 seed in the South and won their first-round game, downing the Seton Hall Pirates, 69-42.

In the round of 32, they played Arizona to the wire, holding a three-point lead in regulation until Mathurin tied the game with a three out of the corner.

Mathurin was masterful, hitting 8 of 19 from the field and 11 of 13 at the free throw line. He also had eight rebounds. Koloko also was a force. He produced 28 points and 12 rebounds. The center connected on 12 of 13 shots from the field.

“Incredible battle,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said. “I knew this was going to be a hard game. I try to tell our guys, TCU obviously plays in the Big 12 and they’re battle tested and they’re great defensively, and just so hard to keep off the glass.

“We weren’t having a crazy problem getting them to miss the first shot; it was just trying to get defensive rebounds. And so they get a ton of credit. They’re really hard to play against.”

O’Bannon expressed pride in what the Horned Frogs accomplished this season.

“This season was everything for us because we weren’t even expected to be here,” he said. “And for us to win our first game and be that close with the No. 1 seed just shows that we have a bunch of guys with a lot of grit. That’s all you can ask for.”

Notable

Michigan and Villanova will play Thursday at 6:29 p.m., while Arizona and Houston will tip off at 8:59 p.m., with both South region Sweet 16 matchups at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, according to the NCAA. The games will be aired on TBS. The Elite Eight game is scheduled for Saturday at the AT&T. The game time has not been announced.

Regulation

Forcing a TCU turnover on the last play of regulation, Arizona’s Dalen Terry picked up a loose ball and raced half the court to dunk it — a potential game-winning basket that was waved off because it came just after time had expired.

As a result, the contest went to overtime tied, 75-75.

Moments earlier, Eddie Lampkin’s rebound and put back gave the Horned Frogs a 75-72 lead. From there, the Wildcats came down and called on Bennedict Mathurin, who drained a three out of the corner to tie the game.

TCU brought the ball up and turned it over at half court. But it was too late for the Wildcats to do anything with it.

Earlier, the Horned Frogs had erased a nine-point deficit in the last eight minutes and appeared to be on the brink of a major upset. Big plays by TCU’s Chuck O’Bannon, Lamkin and Mike Miles sparked the rally.