Kurtis Byrne breaks down his strong day at the plate in elimination game victory

The TCU Horned Frogs got their revenge on the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in their second matchup of the double elimination round in the Men’s College World Series. One of the players that stepped up big for the Horned Frogs was designated hitter Kurtis Byrne.

Byrne struggled with consistency during much of the Men’s College World Series but found his rhythm at the plate when TCU needed it the most. After TCU picked up the 6-1 victory, the Horned Frogs designated hitter broke down his strong day in Tuesday’s elimination game victory.

“Yeah, you know, the first two games didn’t really go my way,” said Byrne. “I would say especially yesterday, but just sticking with my routine and my process and not worrying too much about the outcome right now. I think that was the biggest thing today. Just all about winning pitches, and it worked out for me today.”

In Byrne’s first game of the double-elimination round of the Men’s College World Series against Oral Roberts, he had a decent showing going 1-3 with one hit and one RBI. But in TCU ‘s elimination game against Virginia, the Horned Frogs hitter struggled against the Cavaliers pitching staff, going 0-5 in his plate appearances. Fortunately, Byrne was able to turn things around Tuesday afternoon in TCU’s second elimination game. Byrne would go 2-4 against the Golden Eagles pitchers while earning his second RBI of the tournament.

Saarloos explains how TCU’s experience this season has prepared them to fight for their lives in Omaha

TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos also spoke at the post-game press conference discussing how the Horned Frogs’ late season play has prepared them for the battles they have faced in Omaha.

“Well, I think it’s super important. I’ve said before we’ve been playing kind of this style or this type of game situation for six weeks,” said Saarloos of TCU’s play as of late. “I mean, it’s just what they’ve been doing. Now there’s a second deck on the stadium, and there’s 23,000 people; I don’t think it has changed anything. It’s the same thing it was when we really needed to win two out of three at K-State.”

TCU has been in go mode since their final series of the regular season against Kansas State. Since then, the Horned Frogs have been nearly impossible to beat. TCU went undefeated in the Big 12 tournament scoring 12 or more runs in three of the four games on their way to a conference tournament title. They followed up by sweeping the Fayetteville Regional, hosted by the Arkansas Razorbacks, 3-0. And in the Super Regional round, TCU took care of Indiana State in two games. In fact, in the Horned Frogs loss to Oral Roberts to open the College World Series, they entered the eighth inning with a 5-2 lead before it all came apart.