TCU faces elimination game after 4-0 loss to Oklahoma in Big 12 Championship

TCU’s bats fell silent in the team’s 4-0 loss against the Oklahoma Sooners in its second game of the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship on Wednesday at Globe Life Field.

The game was a matchup of two of the Big 12’s best pitchers, TCU’s Payton Tolle was a first-team All-Big 12, Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and Big 12 pitcher of the year.

Oklahoma’s Braden Davis was also a first-team All-Big 12 pitcher and stymied the Horned Frogs’ offense giving up zero runs off four hits with nine strikeouts in a complete game shutout.

“That was the name of the game. Braden Davis was awesome, did everything that he wanted to, we didn’t take anything away from him and they did a good job against Payton,” said TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos.

TCU continued its struggles with runners in scoring position going 0-for-8 in Wednesday’s game but also had issues getting leadoff batters on base going 1-for-9 in the game.

“We obviously didn’t do what we needed to do at that plate. We didn’t switch our approach up quick enough or at all,” said catcher Karson Bowen, “We need to adjust faster and start quicker. We didn’t start fast, we didn’t end strong, so it’ll be good for us tomorrow to get off to a hot start and win some pitches.”

Tolle went 5.1 innings giving up four runs off six hits, including two home runs, with nine strikeouts and three walks.

The Sooners’ offense was led by Anthony Mackenzie and Jackson Nicklaus who accounted for four of their seven hits, three of their four runs and both of their home runs.

TCU will play Kansas State in an elimination game on Thursday at 9:00 a.m. at Globe Life Field. TCU went 2-1 against the Wildcats in the regular season.