TCU hits 5 homers, evens series with Texas Tech
Luke Boyers and Brayden Taylor homered on two of Mason Molina's first 11 pitches Saturday. That proved to be a sign of things to come.
Of No. 27 TCU's 13 hits, five were homers, five were doubles and the Horned Frogs held off No. 19 Texas Tech 10-7, evening the three-game Big 12 baseball series at one game apiece. TCU (17-10, 5-3) and Tech (19-9, 3-5) play the finale at 2 p.m. Sunday.
"I thought TCU came out and swung the bat really good," Tech coach Tim Tadlock said. "I thought when we made a mistake, they hit it really hard."
Boyers, the Horned Frogs' leadoff batter, hit two of his team's five homers. Taylor and Cole Fontenelle, batting 3-4 in the order, doubled twice apiece.
Tech starter Mason Molina (2-2) was charged with seven runs, all earned, a career high. The Horned Frogs inflated his earned-run average from 2.93 to 4.37. The sophomore lefthander had not allowed more than three runs in 14 of his previous 15 career starts for the Red Raiders.
"It seemed like when they hit the ball hard today, it went out of the ballpark," Tadlock said. "It seemed like the ball was carrying. The wind was kind of blowing in in (batting practice). It was kind of surprising."
Molina left with one out in the fifth inning with one run in, one on and a 6-3 deficit. Austin Davis greeted reliever Jase Lopez with a two-run homer to left field. Then in the sixth, Boyers greeted reliever Taber Fast with a leadoff homer that made the score 9-3.
Two of TCU's starting outfielders are transfers from other Big 12 schools, Davis from West Virginia and Tre Richardson from Baylor. Davis reached base four times and finished with four RBI, the others on a sacrifice fly and getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Davis incurred the vitriol of Tech fans throughout the game. Umpires warned both dugouts in the middle of the seventh inning.
Two weeks ago, in Tech's home series against Oklahoma State, Red Raiders reliever Brandon Beckel was ejected and served a mandatory four-game suspension under NCAA rule.
"Really, I think more than anything today was just warnings," Tadlock said. "I think they just wanted to make sure today that nothing happened after the warning. Probably the right thing to do as far as that goes is a little jawing maybe on both sides.
"There's just a big emphasis right now across the country to be good sportsmen within the game — play the game the right way, respect the game and umpires are holding the kids to that standard and ... right thing to do."
Tech rallied from an 8-0 deficit Friday night to win the series opener 20-16 and mounted another comeback Saturday.
Tech's Nolen Hester and Gage Harrelson were productive at the top of the order, Hester going 2 for 5 with two runs batted in and Harrelson finishing 3 for 5 with an RBI. Gavin Kash hit his 12th home run of the season, a two-run drive in the sixth that started a rally from the 9-3 deficit.
Hester's two-out RBI single in the sixth narrowed the gap to 9-6, but TCU center fielder Elijah Nunez made a diving catch on Harrelson's sinking liner to strand runners at the corners. In the seventh, Kevin Bazzell's leadoff double, an Austin Green single and a run-scoring fielder's choice by Kash drew the Red Raiders within 9-7.
But TCU reliever Garrett Wright struck out the last two batters of that inning, retired the side in order in the eighth and worked around a leadoff single in the ninth, getting his first save.
TCU 10, TEXAS TECH 7
TCU 202 131 010 — 10 13 0
Texas Tech 003 003 100 — 7 10 0
Klecker, Feser (6), Wright (7) and Bowen; Molina, J. Lopez (5), Fast (6), Robinson (8) and Maxcey. W—Klecker (5-2). L—Molina (2-2). Sv—Wright (1). 2B—TCU, Taylor 2 (5), Fontenelle 2 (9), Nunez (5); Texas Tech, Bazzell (14). HR—TCU, Boyers 2 (5), Taylor (10), Nunez (1), Davis (7); Texas Tech, Kash (12). Records: TCU 17-10, 5-3; Texas Tech 19-9, 3-5.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: TCU hits 5 homers, evens series with Texas Tech
