FORT WORTH — Everything was there.
All weekend, TCU pulled out the ingredients for high-level performance and mixed them expertly for a couple of feel-good wins.
Then in the ninth inning Sunday, they burned their hand on the stove.
Two errors by third baseman Conner Shepherd, the Friday night walk-off hero, turned into two unearned runs and spoiled the Sunday meal in a 3-1 loss to Kansas. Reflecting the season as a whole, the stumble down the stretch dropped the Horned Frogs back under .500 in the Big 12 at 10-11 and 28-21 overall.
Still, with four games left in the regular season, the Frogs can feel as good about themselves as they have all season, thanks to surging starting pitching led by Nick Lodolo, Charles King, and on Sunday, Brandon Williams, who went a season-high in innings (8-plus) with a season-high in strikeouts (11).
“We had really good starting pitching. We pitched well out of the bullpen. We had timely hits. We showed some character,” coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “I hate losing as much as anybody. But I feel good about that.”
The Frogs committed four errors on the weekend, but it was a largely crisp weekend with good games. Friday night’s Game 1 went to the ninth inning at 3-3 before Shepherd ended it with a first-pitch homer, and Saturday’s Game 2 went to the ninth with Kansas ahead 4-2 before Andrew Keefer’s two-run double and Alex Isola’s three-run walk-off homer settled it.
Behind Johnny Rizer’s home run for TCU in the fourth, Sunday’s game was 1-1 into the ninth when Williamson, starting the inning at a season-high 117 pitches, walked the leadoff hitter on 3-1. Cal Coughlin entered and gave up a flare that landed near the line behind the bag at third.
With two on and no outs, Coughlin then got a double-play ball to Shepherd’s left. The ball hit the glove in a bad spot, however, and caromed onto the grass in short left, allowing a run to score.
After a strikeout, Coughlin induced a slow roller to third that Shepherd fielded cleanly but threw errantly on the run. The throw to first took Jake Guenther’s glove hand into the baserunner, and the ball and glove fell after the players collided. Guenther, favoring his hand, tried to track down the ball, but not before another run scored.
Guenther was examined by the trainer, but stayed in the game and batted in the ninth. However, Schlossnagle feared “a Luken Baker injury” and wasn’t sure about the left-handed first baseman’s status for Tuesday and beyond. Baker suffered a hairline fracture and ligament damage to his arm in a similar play at Oklahoma in 2017, requiring immediate hospitalization and ending his season.
Guenther has played and reached base in every game, leading the Frogs in hitting, slugging, on-base percentage and walks and is tied for the team lead in home runs and stolen bases.
Can you blame the Frogs — victims of three walk-off losses themselves, missing their two fastest hitters, and playing without their closer (Marcelo Perez has arm soreness) — if they just shake their heads at this point?
Their season had gained momentum. They seemed inches away from a sweep. And now …
“We hit the ball hard 13 times and had three hits,” Schlossnagle said. “You got to give credit to their pitcher. We didn’t get many hits or timely hits, but we had good at-bats. As awesome as the last two nights have been, the game of baseball gets you. We just couldn’t string any hits together. We couldn’t get a ball to fall.”