With the TCU baseball season officially less than a week away, the 2014 varsity team hosted former TCU baseball players Saturday afternoon in the annual Alumni game, which the varsity team won 11-3.
Freshman pitcher Tyler Alexander had an outstanding debut for the varsity team in the exhibition matchup, allowing only three hits in six innings pitched. Alexander retired 18 of the 21 batters he faced.
The left-hander from Southlake Carroll was drafted in the 23rd round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers.
The alumni team featured fifteen former Frogs currently playing professional baseball, including Jason Coats, Josh Elander and St. Louis Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter.
Carpenter, who was a 2013 All-Star for the National League, won the Silver Slugger Award last season. He was part of the TCU baseball team from 2005-09 and holds the school record for most games played with 241.
Along with those playing professional baseball, the alumni team featured seven new faces that fans of last year’s team may recognize such as pitcher Stefan Crichton and infielder Jantzen Witte.
The varsity team took a 1-0 lead in the third inning after a sacrifice bunt from junior outfielder Cody Jones and a sacrifice fly from sophomore outfielder Boomer White.
White led the team in hitting last season with a .314 average along with a home run and 27 RBIs.
The varsity team would later increase their lead to 3-0 off back-to-back wild pitches. In the eighth inning, Jones put them up 5-0 after a successful hit.
An errant pick-off throw then allowed junior outfielder Jeremie Fagnan to score from third base. Junior infielder Keaton Jones would follow that up with a double to make it 7-0 varsity.
After the game went into an extra innings, Witte hit a two-out, two-run double for the alumni team, making it a 7-2 game.
Former TCU infielder Joe Weik hit a double and the alumni scored their third run of the game in the top of the 12th inning but the varsity team responded by driving in four runs to end the game at 11-3.
The TCU baseball team struggled for most of last year, going 29-28 overall and 13-12 in conference play. They lost their first six games and consistently struggled with hitting despite generally playing well on defense.
The Frogs are currently ranked as high as No. 19 in the nation. They’ll officially kick off their season on Friday against Jacksonville University.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from Lupton Stadium.
