By Wendell Barnhouse
Big 12 Digital Correspondent
FORT WORTH, Texas – One week after a buzz-worthy comeback of considerable proportions, TCU again made itself the talk of college baseball.
Actually, to be accurate, it was one week and a day … because for the second time in the last two postseasons, the Horned Frogs started a night game on one day and finished it in the early morning of the next.
TCU earned its second consecutive trip to the College World Series with a 5-4, 16-inning victory over Texas A&M in the Fort Worth Super Regional. The last berth in Omaha was filled after five hours and 55 minutes, 545 pitches, 10 dozen baseballs and more than a full roster (30) of runners left on base.
It was another classic involving the Horned Frogs, who continue to provide entertainment bang for the buck.
"In 25 years of coaching, that is the best baseball game that I have ever been a part of,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “I think it was one of the greatest college baseball games ever had considering what was on the line. I am really proud of my team and I am really proud to be on the same field with Texas A&M."
After the Aggies quieted the crowd of 7,294 by pushing across two runs in the top of the ninth, both teams tap-danced on land mines for the next seven innings. A&M twice had runners at second and third with two outs but each time the inning ended with a strikeout (TCU’s seven pitchers combined for a school-record 25 Ks.)
The aggressive base running that fueled the Horned Frogs’ victory in Game One Saturday won the clincher.
With first and second with two outs in the bottom of the 16th, freshman catcher Evan Skoug – who nearly won the game in the 14th – slapped a hard grounder down the third-base line. A&M’s Ronnie Gideon made a backhanded stop, then bobbled the ball.
TCU’s Garrett Crain, who had a huge lead from second on the pitch, was rounding third about the time Gideon lost the ball. TCU third base coach Bill Mosiello had the stop sign out – he appeared to want to tackle Crain – the senior second baseman was intent on making a mad dash for home. Mad, as in crazy, ill-advised, brash – pick a description.
Shortstop Keaton Jones: “I saw Coach Mo give him the stop sign. But I don’t think he saw that, honestly.”
“I saw him bobble it, I saw it go to the ground,” Crain said. “I knew we had to score somehow. So I just kept going.' ‘I didn’t really see Coach Mo’s stop sign. Now that I think about it, I can see it.
"The 16th inning, you have to try and force something. If that's the seventh of eighth inning, and that's the game-tying run or winning run like it was, maybe you don't do that. Being what it was, we have to score a run."
Gideon’s throw home would have had Crain by 10 feet but it short-hopped catcher Michael Barash and skipped past him. Crain rose with his arms in the air while his teammates sprinted to short center to Frog pile with Skoug.
"That was just hard to watch, kind of slow motion," A&M coach Rob Childress said of the final, game-deciding play. "Don't field it cleanly there at third, and we've got to make a rush throw, a tough throw, tough chance, tough pick and try to apply a tag. It's hard to swallow."
Texas A&M starter Tyler Stubblefield, who tore his ACL on January 24, made his second start of the season and held TCU hitless through four. Skoug drew a walk to start the fifth, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Derek Odell’s single. Odell scored from first when Keaton Jones doubled to center for a 2-1 lead.
The Frogs made it 4-1 in the sixth when freshman designated hitter Connor Wanhanen hit the first homer of his career, a two-run shot to right.
Texas A&M’s runs were scored in divergent fashion. Barash, the No. 9 hitter, gave the Aggies a 1-0 lead with his second homer of the year and Nick Banks’ homer in the eighth cut the Frogs’ lead to 4-2. In the top of the ninth, a hit batter, two walks and two well-placed grounders scored two runs to tie it.
One of TCU’s mottos is “No end in sight” and that’s essentially how extra innings unfolded. The Frogs got the leadoff hitter on in the 10th, 12th, 13th and 14th innings and had first and second with one out in three of those frames.
“It was getting frustrated after a while,” said Crain, who was twice a leadoff hitter who reached to start an inning.
In the 14th, TCU had first and second with no outs and the bases loaded with one out. A&M was playing the infield in with Skoug at the plate. He lined what would have been a game-winner up the middle, but the smash caromed off Aggies pitcher Ryan Hendrix to first baseman G.R. Hinsley who threw home for the force.
When he reached the dugout, the irrepressible Skoug - who caught 35 innings over the last three days - asked his roommate Wanhanen, “You ever see something like that?” Wanhanen’s answer: “Nope.”
Skoug’s game-winning hit was more a product of Crain’s desperation dash and the culmination of pressure.
“Typically a game goes this long, somebody wins it with one swing and hits it out or somebody makes a mistake,” said Schlossnagle, whose team will open CWS play against LSU at 2 p.m. CT on Sunday. “I have TCU across my jersey, but I am a college baseball fan too. Just to see the competition between two great teams. Part of it was incredibly enjoyable and part of it was a beating all at the same time.”