FORT WORTH — If it was Nick Lodolo’s last game at Lupton Stadium — and 99.99% chance it was — the Horned Frogs gave him a nice memory to go out on.
Conner Shepherd, the specific Horned Frog.
The senior third baseman knocked the first pitch over the right field wall in the ninth inning to give TCU a 4-3 victory against Kansas in the opener of a Big 12 series on Friday night. It was his fifth home run of the year, but first walk-off, he said.
“Great for Shep,” Lodolo said. “Guy works hard.”
Great for Shep, great for Lodolo and great for the Frogs, who have been handed their share of walk-off losses. Last Sunday, it happened at West Virginia on a two-run home run.
Kansas State did the same two weeks earlier with a solo after TCU had rallied for four runs to tie in the top half of the ninth.
Oklahoma also walked off the Frogs on April 5.
TCU needed this.
“Had a tough one at West Virginia. A tough finish,” Shepherd said. “But it was awesome to come back out here after that game, get another win for the team. The pitching staff did amazing. We had timely hitting. We’ll take it.”
Right now, that’s the only approach the Frogs can take, as they try to position themselves the best they can for seeding in the Big 12 tournament, where it may take winning to even to get them into postseason.
But that’s down the line a bit. On Friday coach Jim Schlossnagle and the team could celebrate the first walk-off homer at Lupton since 2010 and tip their hat to Lodolo, the junior left-hander who projects as a first-round pick in the Major League Draft this summer.
The Pittsburgh Pirates selected him with the 41st pick in 2016, but the athlete from LaVerne, Calif., stuck with his commitment to TCU.
If Lodolo takes this second chance to go pro, Friday night was his last home start. It was a good one — 11 strikeouts with two runs allowed on two hits and three walks in six innings, although with no decision. The 6-foot-6 pitcher set career highs with 100 strikeouts and 83 innings.
“Super grateful for what he’s given this program,” Schlossnagle said. “He turned down a lot of money to come to college. He was very self aware, and his family was very self aware of who they are and what he needed to do and what was going to be best for his development. Hopefully he’ll pitch a bunch more for us. He’s one of those guys we’re all going to have to pay money to pitch one day. He’s special.”
Lodolo said he tries not to think about what’s next because, “You never know what else can happen.”
But he let himself look around a little bit postgame and take in the Friday night winning buzz.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” he said of his three years in Fort Worth. “The decision I made to come here after everything that happened, I would absolutely never change that. This place has been awesome to me and my family on and off the field. I have a hard time describing it, honestly. It gets me a little choked up. It’s awesome. It’s unbelievable.”