Catcher Evan Skoug tackles Durbin Feltman on the mound after a strikeout to begin the celebratory frogpile.
TCU (47-16) frogpiled on the Blue Bell Park mound while TCU fans cheered, “Omaha! Omaha!” in College Station at the NCAA Super Regional tournament game Sunday night.
TCU defeated Texas A&M (49-16) 4-1, advancing to the College World Series for its third consecutive time and fourth in program history in the last seven years.
TCU defeated No. 1 seed Texas A&M in game one Friday night 8-2 when redshirt-freshman Jared Janczak threw a career-high 7 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs, walked three and struck out four batters. Freshman Luken Baker hit his fifth home run of the postseason. The game one win improved TCU to 46-15 overall.
Saturday night A&M forced a game three, beating TCU 7-1.
Fast forward to game three on Sunday night. Brain Howard (9-2) sure knows how to pitch an incredible game. The junior allowed just one unearned run on two hits, walked two and struck out eight. He retired 16 of the last 17 batters he faced, including a stretch of 11 to close out his outing. Durbin Feltman closed out the game retiring all six batters he faced to pick up his eighth save of the season.
Aggies opened the game again, scoring a run in the first inning. TCU tied it during the fifth inning thanks to a pair of Josh Watson and Ryan Merrill singles. A ground ball out moved Watson to third before he slid into home on a passed ball.
But, the real joy came in the seventh inning. Former Horned Frog Boomer White mishandled a simple ground ball and TCU jumped at the chance, scoring three more runs in the seventh inning. With one out, Connor Wanhanen worked a walk to load the bases. Austen Wade worked the count full and drew a bases-loaded walk to drive in Watson for a 2-1 lead. Cam Warner, with bases loaded of Frogs, hit a sacrifice fly. A walk and a wild pitch added two more runs for the Frogs. TCU improved to 47-16 overall and 43-32 in the NCAA Tournament.
In honor of their win, the Horned Frogs paid tribute to their No. 1 fan, Micah in a video after the game. Catcher Evan Skoug said, “Micah we love and miss you and we did it for you. You’re our superhero and we’re never going to give up, neither should you. Go Frogs. We love and miss you buddy.”
TCU is making its third consecutive trip to the College World Series and the fourth in program history. The Frogs are one of three Big 12 teams who punched their ticket to Omaha as Oklahoma State and Texas Tech will also make an appearance. The Frogs open CWS play in Omaha against Texas Tech on Sunday.
