by OMAHA, Neb. — Four two out runs and a dominating performance from Sean Wymer out of the bullpen led No. 5 TCU to a 4-3 victory over No. 4 Louisville in an elimination game at the College World Series on Thursday night. All four of the Horned Frogs’ runs came in the second inning.
The Rundown
Sean Wymer (6-4) entered the game with two on and two out in the fifth with TCU clinging to a 4-3 lead. He got National Player of the Year Brendan McKay to strike out on three pitches to keep the lead intact.
From there, Wymer mowed through the Cardinals, allowing a single hit in the eighth and ninth inning. He faced just one batter over the minimum in his 4 1/3 innings on the mound thanks to a caught stealing in the eighth. Wymer finished with five strikeouts.
With two outs in the fourth, Elliott Barzilli’s (Nooksack Tribe) base hit got the ball rolling for the Frogs. Two stolen bases later, he was standing on third and scored easily on a Connor Wanhanen double to give the Frogs a 1-0 lead. After Josh Watson was hit by the pitch, TCU executed a double steal to put two in scoring position. Ryan Merrill came up big with a two-run single to right for a 3-0 lead. Austen Wade drove in what proved to be the game-winning run with a base hit to left.
Louisville started chipping away at the lead in the top of the fourth after a lead-off single scored on a on a base hit from Josh Stowers. Nick Lodolo, who started for TCU, battled back to get two flyouts to end the third with only the one run scoring.
The Cardinals got solo home runs from McKay and Logan Taylor to lead off the fourth and fifth, respectively, but that was all as the TCU bullpen shut the door the rest of the way.
Notes:
• TCU has won two games at the CWS for the fourth time in five trips to Omaha
• TCU improved to 10-9 overall in the College World Series and 7-7 in games played at TD Ameritrade.
• TCU improved to 53-35 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
• TCU has allowed three or fewer earned runs for the eighth consecutive game dating back to June 3 (the entire NCAA Tournament).
• Coming into today, Elliott Barzilli had four stolen bases on the season. He recorded two stolen bases in the second inning. He also had two stolen bases in a CWS game last year on June 19, 2016 against Texas Tech
• TCU tied the College World Series record for most stolen bases in one inning with four in the second inning. Louisiana-Lafayette had four during the 5th inning against Clemson on June 14, 2000.
Next Up:
With the victory, TCU improves to 49-17 overall. The Horned Frogs advance to face undefeated Florida on Friday night at 7 on ESPN.
