Texas Baseball loses sickening series finale vs. TCU

If you watched Texas Baseball blow the third game in their weekend series against TCU, then you already feel sick.

If you did not watch the game in Fort Worth or on ESPNU, then prepare to be sick. We will warn in advance, including more classic Big 12 umpiring from Friday’s goat Chris Coskey.

Texas Baseball dropped a 4-3 extra innings game to TCU on Sunday afternoon in a game they absolutely should have and needed to win.

The Longhorns took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh. Starter Kyle Johnston was terrific through six innings, only allowing two hits against a TCU lineup that destroyed Texas pitching on Friday and Saturday.

Then, Johnston lost his command in the seventh. This has been Johnston’s problem throughout the season, and it cost Texas on Sunday. Johnston walked two batters without throwing a strike. He wasn’t close to throwing a strike in eight pitches.

So, manager David Pierce brought in set-up man Chase Shugart. And, Shugart could not throw a strike. Shugart walked three hitters and TCU scored two runs in the inning without even registering a hit. And, Pierce had to go closer Beau Ridgeway too early in the game to get the last out of the seventh inning.

Texas Baseball Unable to Hold Lead

Texas still led 3-2 going into the eighth. And, suddenly, Ridgeway couldn’t throw a strike in the bottom of the frame. But, he still got to two outs. With a man on second base, the batter was TCU catcher Evan Skoug, who torched Horns pitching on Friday and Saturday, including homering off Ridgeway in extra innings on Friday.

So, with first base open and down 3-0 in the count, Ridgeway threw a fastball over the middle of the plate, which Skoug smashed for a game-tying double. Skoug was thrown out at third to end the inning. But, for the second game in the series, Ridgeway blew a save against Skoug. And, he didn’t even need to challenge Skoug with an open base.

Then, in the 9th inning, Texas advanced a runner to third base with two outs. But, as has hurt Texas this season, they could not get a clutch hit with RISP to pick up the pitching staff when they have faltered late.

TCU then went scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, sending the game to extras.

Extra Innings Starts with Good Ol’ Chris Coskey

The top of the 10th started with Kody Clemens smashing a double to left field. But wait, the home plate ump from Friday who cost Texas the game ruled Kody out at second base.

Replays showed Cody clearly getting his arm to the bag before the tag was applied. But, Coskey ruled Kody out at second. Kody protested, but the damage was already done.

Again, without replay in these Big 12 contests, there was no recourse to hold Chris Coskey accountable for his latest gaffe in this series.

Instead of a runner at second with no one out, Texas went quietly the rest of the inning.

Then, in the bottom of the 10th, TCU had a runner at first with one out. TCU’s other big bopper besides Skoug, Luken Baker, stepped to the plate against Longhorns pitcher Nick Kennedy.

Baker had not done anything at all on Sunday, but Kennedy left a fastball up and over the middle of the plate. Baker smashed it to center field and the ball bounced around the outfield, allowing TCU to score the winning run from first.

Damage Done to Texas Baseball

This was a very damaging series for Texas Baseball. The Longhorns walked into Ft. Worth with a 9-8 record in the Big 12. The Longhorns left with a 9-11 record thanks to the sweep.

They should have won on Sunday if not for the pitching fall apart in the late innings, compounded by a Chris Coskey Moment in extras.

And, they had a very good chance of winning on Friday after their big comeback that gave the Horns the lead in extras.

Instead, Texas suffered two more one-run losses. The Longhorns have fared poorly in one-run games this season. Most of those losses have been like Sunday where the Horns have walked into the late innings with a lead, given it up, and not had an offensive answer in the late innings.

This happened twice in the Stanford series earlier in the year, against Texas State, Oklahoma, and at Baylor just two weeks ago in the same situation when they took a 3-0 lead into the final innings and lost 4-3.

Because Texas plays in the best RPI conference in baseball, the Longhorns are still okay for the NCAA Tournament. But, winning at least one road game against Top 10 TCU would have locked them into the tournament.

Now, Texas only has four more regular season games remaining to improve their resume. The awful taste of this loss will remain for an entire week because the Horns are off next week.

Texas next plays Incarnate Word on Tuesday, May 16 before closing the regular season with a Big 12 home series against West Virginia May 19-21.

Texas has to sweep the Mountaineers just to make it back to .500 in the conference. Otherwise, they will end the regular season sub .500 and need to have a strong showing in the Big 12 tournament.

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Sunday’s loss completed a sickening road trip for the Longhorns. Their ace pitchers were roughed up, the bullpen blew two saves, and poor Big 12 officiating just seems to follow Texas around in every sport. The Horns have to find a way to regroup before these last four games.