Oklahoma State and TCU were picked as the favorites to win the conference in the preseason. Instead, Texas Tech shocked the Big 12 and won the regular season conference crown with ease. The Cowboys took two out of three from the Frogs back in April, but an eight run eighth inning was too much for the Cowboys to overcome in a 13-5 defeat.
The Cowboys, 36-19 , jumped out on top early, loading the bases up in the bottom of the first. The Pokes got their first run when J.D. Davis scored on a passed ball. Conor Costello struck a ball up the middle that scored two, and Ryan Sluder hit a chopper past the shortstop to score the fourth run of the inning.
Thomas Hatch had a good first three innings, but ran into some major trouble in the fourth. With the Cowboys still up 4-0, the Horned Frogs struck for four runs all with two outs. TCU cleared the bases with a two run triple, and kept the line moving for the other two runs. Hatch would later strike out the final batter to end the inning, but the damage had been done.
The two teams were back and forth until the bottom of the seventh. With a runner on second and two outs, Garrett Benge smacked a deep ball to right field that scored the runner and put the Pokes back up 5-4.
After 6 2/3 innings, Garret Williams came in to replace Hatch, and was solid for a couple innings. Heading to the top of the eighth, head coach Josh Holliday made a call to the bullpen. That call was the wrong one. 1
With one out and a runner on first, Tyler Buffett came on and struggled at the worst possible time. It started with back to back singles to load up the bases and then a wild pitch tied the game. Buffett then hit the next TCU batter to bring home the go ahead run. But TCU was no where close to being done. Back to back homeruns and clutch hitting throughout the inning gave TCU a 13-5 lead heading into the bottom half of the inning.
The Pokes went down in the ninth inning with little resistance.
The Cowboys are still in the race for a Big 12 championship, but must win out. The Pokes take on Texas on Friday at 7 p.m. The Cowboys are fresh off a 10-4 win over the Longhorns and would get a rematch with TCU with a win.