TCU takes advantage of depleted OSU pitching, denies Cowboys a Big 12 title

est guy who could get us two innings,” Holliday said. “When you take stock of your guys and you take stock of who has (how many) pitches, you have to assess how many pitches (have been thrown) over the time they’re here.”

The Cowboys hadn’t surrendered more than five runs in nine of their past 10 contests but succumbed to TCU’s prolific offense in a 12-5 loss in the Big 12 title game.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- When Ben Abram took the mound in Sunday’s Big 12 Championship game, his head coach didn’t expect him to exceed two innings.

OSU had already utilized nine arms through five games in four days at the Big 12 Tournament. OSU coach Josh Holliday had to take that into account when navigating a gameplan for one of the hottest teams in college baseball in TCU, winners of 13 of its past 15 contests.

Holliday just wanted two quality innings, maybe even three if Abram had it in him.

“(Abram) was really the fresh-

Abram threw 65 pitches in his outing against Oklahoma on Friday. In spite of the minimal rest, his pitch count was the lowest among other arms in the staff who had started during the week. So, Holliday opted to start him.

Abram’s first inning of work featured a 1-2-3 frame and two strikeouts to conclude it.

Through the first three games of the conference tournament, the Horned Frogs (37-22, 13-11 Big 12) outscored their opponents 36-10. That offensive explosion continued in the top of the second inning when they recorded four consecutive one-out base hits, finalized by a three-run moonshot from left fielder Luke Boyers – his first at-bat of the tournament – for a four-run second inning.

As planned, it was the final inning of Abram’s outing.

“You just can’t let (TCU) have a huge inning like they did, or else