Baseball: TCU drops two games in series with Southern Miss

The Horned Frogs lose their nonconference set against the ranked Golden Eagles

A series opening victory Friday evening wasn’t enough for the TCU baseball team to take its nonconference set against No. 22 Southern Miss over the weekend. The No. 25 ranked Horned Frogs, who defeated Tarleton State in their home opener earlier in the week, lost to the Golden Eagles on Saturday before conceding a blowout defeat in the rubber match on Sunday at Lupton Stadium. TCU (7-4, 0-0 Big 12) will continue its home stand with a pair of midweek games against Air Force before hosting Fresno State for a three-game set.

Friday: TCU 5, USM 2

Caedmon Parker took the ball to start the series against the Golden Eagles, throwing five innings while striking out seven batters and holding Southern Miss to two earned runs on four hits. TCU held a 1-0 lead after the bottom of the first inning, where Isaac Cadena scored on a passed ball. Southern Miss responded with an RBI groundout in the top of the second inning before taking the lead on an RBI single in the top of the third inning.

A mistake on the mound led to a Horned Frog run in the bottom of the fifth inning, where a balk enabled TCU to tie the game at 2-2. TCU tallied two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, scoring on a throwing error and a sacrifice fly from Colton Griffin. Chase Brunson delivered insurance in the bottom of the seventh inning, belting an RBI double to left-center field. Left-hander Braeden Sloan relieved Parker in the sixth inning and shut the Southern Miss offense down, firing four scoreless frames with seven strikeouts and zero hits allowed to earn his first win of the season. Sloan has 19 strikeouts and an 0.82 ERA so far.

Saturday: USM 5, TCU 3

The second game of the series was sloppy defensively, as TCU and Southern Miss combined for five errors, with the Horned Frogs committing three of them. The Golden Eagles again took the early lead, hitting a solo homer in the top of the first inning and adding a sacrifice fly in the top of the third inning. Trailing 2-0, the Horned Frogs cut the Southern Miss lead to one after shortstop Anthony Silva bashed a solo shot over the left-field fence. Tommy LaPour started on the mound for the Horned Frogs, spinning four and two-thirds innings with two strikeouts, two walks and two earned runs allowed on four hits.

Southern Miss extended its lead in the top of the eighth inning, smashing two home runs before adding an insurance run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning to surge ahead 5-1. An RBI groundout from Noah Franco in the bottom of the ninth inning wasn’t enough for the Horned Frogs to rally back. TCU finished with seven hits and five walks drawn in the loss. Chase Brunson went 2-for-4 with one run scored to lead the offense. Freshman pitcher Mason Brassfield fared well in relief of LaPour, throwing three frames with three strikeouts while limiting the Golden Eagles to one earned run on three hits.

Sunday: USM 11, TCU 3

Freshman righty Trever Baumler earned the nod for the rubber matchup on Sunday, firing 63 pitches over four innings while striking out one and conceding three earned runs. Cohen Feser twirled three shutout frames in relief and struck out three batters to keep the Horned Frogs, who trailed 4-0 after the top of the fifth inning, within striking distance. TCU rallied for three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, where Sawyer Strosnider drove one run home on an RBI groundout before Sam Myers sent an opposite-field, two run double into the left-field corner that allowed Anthony Silva and Chase Brunson to touch home plate.

TCU turned to freshman reliever Kade Eudy in the top of the eighth inning, but the Golden Eagles exploded for five runs on a sacrifice fly and three run-scoring doubles to surge ahead 9-3. After smacking a two-run double in the eighth inning, Southern Miss first baseman Matthew Russo built on his strong afternoon with a two-run bomb in the top of the ninth inning that gave the Golden Eagles an eight-run lead. Sam Myers, Nolan Traeger and Anthony Silva each had two-hit games for the Horned Frogs, who finished with seven hits and committed three errors on defense. Kade Eudy, Blake Rogers and Zack James allowed a combined seven earned runs over the last two innings of the game.