A 30-run weekend for No. 24 TCU was capped off with the Horned Frogs completing the sweep over Kansas baseball on Sunday, exploding at the plate to produce at least 10 runs for the second day in a row to take down the Jayhawks, 14-0 in seven innings.
Even with the bats coming alive for the Horned Frogs, junior righty Cam Brown might not have even needed all the insurance runs with the complete game shutout over the Jayhawks. In a matchup that ended with the mercy rule, Brown went all seven innings with eight punchouts on the day while surrendering just one walk.
Across six starts and 30 innings pitched for TCU, Brown leads the team with a 2.08 ERA, .174 opponent batting average, and 34 strikeouts thus far in the season.
The situation on the mound for the Jayhawks didn’t see the same amount of success, however. Redshirt junior righty Hunter Cranton took the hill for Kansas on Sunday, but saw a short-lived day as he went just 2.1 innings and allowed eight earned runs on seven hits and three walks in the start. Receiving the loss, Cranton now sits at 1-2 on the season with a 9.00 ERA.
On the first pitch the Horned Frogs saw of the day, leadoff man and junior outfield Luke Boyers and junior infielder Tre Richardson connected for back-to-back singles to get the TCU bats going early. Miscues then followed for Cranton and Kansas redshirt sophomore catcher Jake English, as a wild pitch advanced Richardson to second while a passed ball on Cranton’s first walk of the day allowed for Boyer to cross the dish.
A third single of the inning from junior infielder Cole Fontenelle and a bases-loaded walk from Cranton tallied on two more runs in the first, and the Horned Frogs never looked back after their early 3-0 lead.
The long ball made three separate appearances for TCU in their win, highlighted by freshman infielder Anthony Silva’s three run blast that created an 8-0 lead of the Horned Frogs, and in turn resulted in the end of Cranton’s start. Silva ended his day at the plate going 3-for-4 with five RBIs total, accompanied by his two-run double in the fourth inning off junior righty Kolby Dougan.
With Kansas producing just two hits on Sunday, all signs of life were dwindled by the time the seventh inning rolled around. It was three up, three down for the Jayhawks in the seventh and Brown secured the win for the Horned Frogs after all three batters grounded out to end the game.
A sweep to open up conference play wasn’t in the plans for the Jayhawks, but Kansas now has a chance to regroup during the upcoming five-game homestand, hosting Creighton on Wednesday as a brief Big 12 break before hosting Baylor for a weekend set. First pitch against the Bluejays is set for 6 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark.