The Horned Frogs could only afford one loss in bracket play at the College World Series in order to advance to their first finals in program history, but unfortunately for TCU, they were matched up against 2017 MLB first round draft pick in Florida’s Alex Faedo in the semifinals for the championship game.
“I felt like with our starting pitching we had four legit starting pitchers that could give us a chance, and they did,” TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “It’s just Alex Faedo got in the way. Don’t get me wrong they have a great team, but that one guy on the mound can just change everything in this sport.”

The NCAA leader in strikeouts stymied the Horned Frogs again for the second time in a week, leaving TCU one victory away from reaching the finals of CWS for the second year in a row.

Faedo allowed two hits and struck out 11 TCU batters in the first seven innings, equaling the statistics he posted in the two teams’ first contest to open play in Omaha.

Saturday, TCU drew two more walks, four, than the first time they faced Faedo and mustered one more hit, three, in their second matchup with the ace right-hander. Almost every time the Horned Frogs were able to square up a pitch from Faedo, the baseball seemed to find the glove of a Gator defender.

However, TCU had multiple opportunities Sunday with runners on the base. The Horned Frogs were 0-for-2 with a runner in scoring position, 1-for-7 with runners on base and left five runners on base without bringing them around to score.
“I thought our at-bats were significantly better today than they were the last time we faced him, but the chances that we did get, he made pitches,” Schlossnagle said. “The balls we hit seemed to be at somebody, but that doesn’t take away from how outstanding he was, and I’m really proud of our team.”
Nolan Brown struck out swinging to end the second inning following a couple of two-out walks by Connor Wanhanen and Josh Watson. Watson struck out with runners at first and second to conclude the TCU threat in the seventh.
In the eighth, the Horned Frogs put together one last gasp in the eighth inning after an Austen Wade single to left field with one out to finish Faedo’s night, and designated hitter Zach Humphreys singled against closer Michael Byrne, who began the at-bat with a 2-0 count.
Evan Skoug and Cam Warner hit as the tying runs, but Skoug struck out swinging and Warner flew out to right on a ball that looked like it had home run distance coming off the bat, but died on the warning track. .

“I felt like I put a good swing on it, but it seemed that all the balls we were hitting tonight were going to fielders,” TCU second baseman Cam Warner said. Read More