Four Thoughts on TCU’s 12-5 Win Over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Baseball Championship Game
Eight teams came in on Wednesday hoping to make it to Sunday. After four full days of Big 12 baseball action in Arlington we’ve reached the final day, it’s the last game, and only two teams are left standing.
While the score may not show it, this was a matchup between two really good teams. The Oklahoma State Cowboys came into the tournament as the number two seed and started off by dropping their first game. It was a long climb back, but the Cowboys managed to win their next three straight games to make it to Sunday. Meanwhile the TCU Horned Frogs started off hot winning all three games to reach the title game. In the end, the Horned Frogs would once again take care of business finishing the weekend at a perfect 4-0 as they won their second first Big 12 Conference baseball tournament in the last three seasons. Here are my thoughts on TCU’s big win over Oklahoma State.
1. TCU Had a Hot Start
The Horned Frogs have had some great starts over the past few days, but none were more important than the one they had on Sunday. Right off the bat in the second inning, TCU’s offense was on fire. Anthony Silva brought in the first run of the game and then Luke Boyers crushed a big three-run bomb to give TCU an early 4-0 lead.
But the Frogs weren’t done just yet because in the next inning, Tre Richardson had a huge two-RBI single to bring in two more runs. Kurtis Byrne and Austin Davis also drove in a pair of runs as well to put TCU on top 8-0 in the third inning.
That early push was big as the Horned Frogs kept the momentum throughout the game as they ended up scoring 12 runs in this one.
2. Did Oklahoma State Run Out of Gas?
When a team plays six games in five days, you can certainly make a case that a team will be exhausted. That is how I felt after watching Oklahoma State on Sunday evening in the championship game. They only have so many reliable arms to go around, and they have to play two more games than TCU did just to make it to Sunday. I know that it is nobody’s fault but their own, but I am not going to put them down by any means after falling flat in the championship game. Hopefully they will be fully rested going into the NCAA tournament.
3. Oklahoma State is Hosting a Regional
Coming into the Big 12 tournament, Oklahoma State was one of those fringe host teams. They were on the outside looking in prior to the conference tournament starting. Yet, despite a loss on opening day, the Cowboys managed to make it all the way to Sunday to play in the Big 12 championship game. Their performance over the last few days was enough to get them in as a top 16 seed which means that Oklahoma State will be hosting a regional next weekend in Stillwater.
4. Can TCU’s Magical Run Continue?
While the Horned Frogs caught fire late in the season, I felt like nobody was talking about them before this conference tournament. I mentioned in my preview last week that TCU could end up being the Cinderella team and they certainly were. The Horned Frogs took care of business in every single game as they finished the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record. That is pretty incredible considering that back in March, I wasn’t even sure that they were going to make the tournament because they were really struggling. But as we all know, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. TCU finished the month of May on a high note and right now, they may just be the hottest team in all of college baseball.
