Baylor Baseball Swept in Back-to-Back Weekends, Drops Series Finale to TCU, 10-6

WACO, Texas – Baylor baseball (20-26, 9-15) was swept by TCU (29-16, 13-14) and dropped its eighth consecutive conference game with a 10-6 loss to the Horned Frogs Sunday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark.

In the series finale, the Bears outhit TCU, 13-to-11, but the main difference in the defeat was that Baylor could not overcome a six-spot from the Horned Frogs in the first inning. Right fielder Enzo Apodaca (RJr.) led the batting order with a 2-for-5 performance, highlighted by a towering 424-foot home run in the fifth.

From the second inning and beyond, six different Baylor pitchers – Tanner Duke (RFr.), Grant Golomb (Sr.), RJ Ruais (Fr.), Gabe Craig (RJr.), Kobe Andrade (Sr.) and Drew Leach (RJr.) – combined to surrender four earned runs and six hits in eight innings of relief out of the bullpen.

“I thought [Tanner Duke] had a good outing,” head coach Mitch Thompson said postgame. “I thought Grant Golomb had a good outing. I thought RJ [Ruais] was fantastic in his two innings and Kobe Andrade threw the ball well too. For the most part, the bullpen gave us a chance to get back in the game, and we tried to do that.”

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After trailing 6-0 after the first inning, six different Baylor pitchers performed well out of the bullpen and kept the game within striking distance.

The loss puts Baylor’s hopes of making the Big 12 Tournament extremely slim heading into the final two weeks of the season with matchups against No. 21 Oklahoma (28-17, 17-6) and UCF (29-15, 11-12) looming.

“We have to play a tick better here and there, and we have to win games,” Thompson said. “Coming close isn’t going to cut it. Going into extra innings isn’t going to cut it. Winning is what’s going to cut it. We have to go to OU and we have to win games. Then we have to come home and we have to play Central Florida and win games, so that’s what the focus is.”

Left-handed pitcher Mason Green (Fr.) made his eighth start of the spring on Sunday and was unable to make it out of the first inning. After opening the contest with a strikeout, Green allowed six straight batters to reach base, including giving up three two-run homers in the frame.

Entering the series, the Horned Frogs had 29 long balls as a team in comparison to Baylor’s 34. Against the Bears this weekend, TCU added eight to its total.

“It’s frustrating,” Thompson said. “The message to the team was let’s turn the tide on them today like it happened to us [yesterday]. … You don’t ever want to start a game like that, and we couldn’t get a guy ready fast enough to move on.”

To lead off the second, designated hitter Logan Maxwell (Jr.) hit an impromptu double after Hunter Teplanszky (Jr.) tripped over the third base bag, attempting to catch a routine pop-up. Maxwell scored on an RBI single off Duke the following at-bat to extend TCU’s lead to 7-1.

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The Bears outhit the Horned Frogs, 13-to-11, but the main difference in the defeat was that Baylor could not overcome a six-spot from TCU in the first inning.

Duke, however, ended up with one of his better outings of the year, going a career-long 3.1 innings and striking out three while surrendering two earned runs.

Golomb entered in place of Duke and tossed a scoreless frame. Ruais then delivered two perfect innings to keep the Horned Frogs off the board in the middle frames.

In the fifth, Apodaca crushed a solo shot well over the right field wall for his sixth home run of the year. Apodaca went 5-for-13 at the plate over the weekend with three extra-base hits; he leads the team in multi-hit games (16) and batting average (.348).

With the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, designated hitter Zach Mazoch (So.) roped a two-run double into the right-field corner. Catcher Cortlan Castle (Jr.) followed Mazoch with an RBI ground out to cut TCU’s lead to 8-5.

The Horned Frogs then added two runs in the ninth to seal the sweep.

However, Baylor made things interesting late and loaded the bases again in the bottom of the frame but could only scrape across one run. The Bears went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position in the contest.

Final: TCU 10, Baylor 6

W: Louis Rodriguez (4-2) L: Mason Green (1-6) S: Ben Abeldt (7)

POTG: Enzo Apodaca (2-for-5, HR, RBI, 2 R)

WHAT’S NEXT

Baylor baseball (20-26) will take on Tarleton (25-23) in a midweek matchup at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night at Baylor Ballpark.