Four Takeaways from Day One of the Big 12 Baseball Tournament
What an opening day it was up in Arlington for the Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament. We saw a total of four Big 12 games on Wednesday and it was non-stop jam-packed action from morning until the late-night hours.
As we continue to make our way through the tourney, I have a few thoughts from the first full day of Big 12 baseball action. Here are the final scores from yesterday’s games.
#7 Kansas: 2, #6 Kansas State: 1
#9 TCU: 5, #4 West Virginia: 2
#8 UCF: 6, #5 Cincinnati: 5
#10 Texas Tech: 6, #3 Texas: 4
The Sunflower Pitching Battle
I decided to give the Sunflower Showdown a new name due to Tuesday’s game between the two in-state rivals. If you were looking for offense here, then you might want to look elsewhere because this was an old school pitching battle between two hungry teams. Through the first eight innings, each team only scored a single run. It wasn’t until the top of the ninth when Collier Cranford hit a sac-fly to take the lead against Kansas State.
There was a total of nine pitchers in this game and all of them did well. Unfortunately, someone had to lose, and it was Kansas State. Now the Jayhawks will face the winner of the Oklahoma/TCU game on Thursday while Kansas State will face West Virginia in an elimination game on Wednesday morning.
TCU Gets Revenge
Last weekend TCU faced West Virginia in their final series of the regular season and lost. And while that may not be a big deal for some, the Horned Frogs really needed to win that series to get to .500 in conference play. Well, you couldn’t have asked for a more perfect setup for TCU because their opening round opponent ended up being West Virginia.
A groundout and a walk got the Frogs on the board and then Chase Brunson added a run to make it a 3-0 game in the fifth inning. West Virginia made things interesting when Logan Sauve hit a two-run blast to make it a one run game.
But TCU pulled away with another key hit from Chase Brunson and Brody Green solo shot in the ninth inning.
With the win, the Horned Frogs will face the number one seed Oklahoma on Wednesday while West Virginia will play Kansas State in an elimination game earlier that morning.
Have a Day Danny Neri
While he may not have been a household name coming into the tournament, Danny Neri has certainly become one after Tuesday’s opening round. Danny hit not one, not two, but THREE home runs against Cincinnati including this one in extras to give UCF the lead.
While the Knights did blow a 5-1 lead late in the game, Danny’s magical day at the plate helped bail them out as he became the only player in the history of the Big 12 tournament to hit three home runs in a single game. Now UCF will get the day off on Wednesday and play the winner of the Texas Tech/Oklahoma State game on Thursday night.
Cade McGee Saves the Day for Texas Tech
Coming into this tournament, Texas Tech was the only Big 12 team who was completely outside the postseason picture. They ended the regular season losing eight straight conference games and finishing with a 12-17 record. To even make the postseason, this team has to win the Big 12 tournament.
Thanks to Cade McGee, the Red Raiders are one step closer to achieving that goal. With the game tied at four in the top of the ninth inning, Cade drilled a two-run blast that hit the foul pole to put Texas Tech on top 6-4 as they would go on to win the game.
Wednesday’s Games
9:00 AM CT: #4 West Virginia vs #6 Kansas State (Elimination Game)
12:30 PM CT: #1 Oklahoma vs #9 TCU
4:00 PM CT: #3 Texas vs #5 Cincinnati (Elimination Game)
7:30 PM CT: #2 Oklahoma State vs #10 Texas Tech
