Three takeaways from No. 7 TCU’s baseball series finale against No. 1 UCLA

The much anticipated top 10 matchup between No. 1 UCLA and No. 7 TCU was dominated by the Bruins through the first two games, and the Horned Frogs couldn’t buck that trend in a 15-5 loss to UCLA.

It was a back-and-forth game for much of the day at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles, but the Bruins broke the game open in the sixth with a four-run inning — three of those runs coming off Noah Franco in his first pitching appearance since the team’s second game against Arkansas — that gave them a 9-4 lead .

TCU’s Sawyer Strosnider came into the game hitting 3 for 8 with and RBI, a run scored and a walk through the first two games with UCLA and had his best game of the series on Sunday going 2 for 2 with two RBIs and three runs scored with a home run, a triple and two walks.

Strosnider helped spark an offense that scored more runs by the fifth inning of Sunday’s game (4) than they had in the previous two games combined (3).

Horned Frogs chase Stump early

Over the first two games of the series Bruins starting pitchers had been lights out, giving up a combined two runs off eight hits in 10 innings with 14 strikeouts.

The Horned Frogs bucked that trend on Sunday chasing UCLA’s Landon Stump from the game before the third inning’s conclusion and having their most successful offensive game of the series.

Stump gave up three runs off four hits with two walks in 2.1 innings of work. In Stump’s final inning Sawyer Strosnider got the scoring going with a triple that scored Cole Cramer. The next batter, Chase Brunson, would hit a single, scoring Strosnider — which would be Stump’s last batter faced of the day.

This was the first multi-run inning in the series for the Horned Frogs offense.

Uli Fernsler makes collegiate debut

Freshman Uli Fernsler made his first start for the Horned Frogs, and similar to Stump it was a short stint.

Fernsler gave up three runs off three hits with one strikeout in two innings of work, with the Bruins using the long ball to attack the young pitcher.

The runs Fernsler gave up came when Will Gasparino, with a man on base, and Dominic Cadiz had back-to-back home runs in the second which put the Bruins up 3-1 when he exited the game.

TCU bats wake up

Sunday’s game was by far the liveliest of the series with the Horned Frogs and Bruins both taking leads and each side tying the game and the Horned Frogs offense having their best showing.

TCU took the early lead after Strosnider and Nolan Traeger executed a double steal which caused the UCLA defender to fumble with the ball allowing the Horned Frogs to take the early lead in the first inning.

TCU ended the game with seven hits and five runs scored and was a step in the right direction for an offense that had been scuttling over the past few games.

TCU will be back in action against Loyola Marymount at 3 p.m. on Monday at Page Stadium.