Kirk Saarloos evaluates Ben Abeldt, his ability to bounce back on short rest

With Virginia rallying in the bottom of the eighth inning down two runs, TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos made the call for southpaw Ben Abeldt in the bullpen. The move paid off.

The freshman entered to face the meat of the Cavaliers lineup with Harrison Didawick on third base and one out. Ethan O’Donnell hit a ground ball out to score Didawick and cut the lead to 4-3. However, Jake Gelof flied out to end the inning.

Abeldt then struck out two in the bottom of the ninth — including ACC Player of the Year and potential top-10 pick Kyle Teel — to close out the 4-3 win for the Horned Frogs and stave off elimination.

“I think he threw 40 or 50 pitches or something like that on Friday, which Ben — knock on wood — is one of the most resilient arms in terms of bounce-back,” Saarloos said after the win. “He actually gets better the more he throws. I think it’s probably because of his arm slot. When you throw it from a really unorthodox arm slot — I think he went with one time like eight or nine days in between appearances and his next appearance he wasn’t very sharp because it’s different.”

The 6-foot-2 lefty pitched in TCU’s first game of the Men’s College World Series versus Oral Roberts, throwing two innings as the first pitcher in relief of starter Kole Klecker. Abeldt threw 40 pitches during the 6-5 loss, allowing a two-run home run to Mac McCroskey in the sixth inning. However, only one of the runs was charged to him.

His final statline for the game against Virginia was 1.2 innings pitched with one hit allowed and two strikeouts. He also earned his second save of the season.

On the season, Abeldt is 3-3 with a 3.63 ERA in 31 games — which is the most by any Horned Frogs pitcher this season — with just one start. He has 66 strikeouts in 52.0 innings with a .236 batting average against.

“I knew he wanted the ball,” Saarloos said. “He got to the point in the lineup kind of before the game had started, in terms of the nine-hole hitter and then through the top of their order, I felt the left-handed option was really good against that kind of stretch of four or five guys. And that’s why he was in there. And did an awesome job in terms of finishing the game.”