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TCU scores on controversial, costly balk from ORU pitcher Joshua Caravalho for 2-0 lead

On3 imageby:Dan Morrison06/20/23

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TCU baseball
© Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

With runners on second and third in the fourth inning, Oral Roberts pitcher Joshua Caravalho was called for a balk. This plated a run to give the TCU Horned Frogs a 2-0 lead in an elimination game.

It was a controversial call that the home plate umpire called immediately. Oral Roberts head coach Ryan Folmar told the ESPN broadcast that, according to the umpire, the balk was actually because Caravalho didn’t declare if he was pitching from the stretch or the wind-up.

Check out the balk that plated a run for TCU, here:

Typically, pitchers pitch from the stretch with runners on base. This gets the ball home quicker and makes it harder for runners to take big leads and steal. However, with runners on second and third, the need for this is less important, and sometimes pitchers are more comfortable pitching from their wind-up.

Caravalho got the batter out to get out of the inning without another run scoring. So, the balk was the only reason why TCU was able to push that run across.

This run could prove to be huge. The loser of this game is going to be eliminated from the College World Series while the winner advances to play Florida.

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TCU and Oral Roberts already played once in Omaha, with Oral Roberts pulling off an upset victory. That was a 6-5 finish. In what could prove to be an incredibly close game again, this controversial balk could prove to be the difference.

In the fifth inning, Caravalho was called for another balk to score another run. That made it 3-0 before being reviewed by the umpiring crew reviewed the balk was removed. A pitch clock violation was then assessed, which was ball four, putting runners on the corners with one out.

Kirk Saarloos on how TCU can bounce back

Ahead of the game against Oral Roberts, TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos broke down how the Horned Frogs can bounce back from their initial loss to Oral Roberts.

“It was a great college baseball game,” Kirk Saarloos said. “It just sucks that we lost. And I thought the effort, the grit, the determination, everything, they played the exact same way. It just didn’t go our way today. And this season hasn’t been easy the whole season. And so why not make it harder on ourselves now? There’s so much investment and sweat, blood, and tears in that dugout that they’re champing at the bit to get back on Sunday and get this taste out of their mouth.”