Cam Brown evaluates what worked so well for him in elimination game start vs. Oral Roberts

Early on in a College World Series elimination game between TCU and Oral Roberts it looked like the Horned Frogs might crack and give up some early runs. Starting pitcher Cam Brown had other ideas.

He was able to deftly work out of a few jams remembering one piece of advice from coach Kirk Saarloos.

“Living pitch for pitch,” Brown said. “I think a lot of times I get myself in trouble. And just having the mindset living pitch for pitch. It’s exactly in the moment.”

Brown walked the leadoff batter in the first inning, then walked the first two batters in the third inning. Both times he was able to retire the side without any damage, despite the Golden Eagles moving the runners to second and third with just one out in the third inning.

As Brown pointed out, the mindset he had of simply taking it one toss at a time in the elimination game was key.

“Just worrying about executing pitch to pitch,” he said. “I don’t have to worry about who is hitting .300, .250, .450, whatever it may be, just executing pitch for pitch and trying to give my team the best chance to win is how I tried to go about it today.”

Even when he did run into trouble, Brown tried to shrink the moment down and make it more digestible. That can be a hard thing to do in Omaha in an elimination game, when the stands are packed and the prize at the end of it is a national title… and the flip side is the season being over.

“I think it’s funny, I’ll reference back when coach Loos took a mound visit, not in that inning, but it’s just he told me, we’ve been here before,” Brown relayed. “We’ve gotten out of this before and that’s just kind of like something that I’m comfortable in.

“When the pressure’s on, like just keep fighting and going pitch for pitch. And when you’re focusing on winning just one pitch at a time, it really doesn’t seem like anything else is happening.”

Brown only went three innings, as TCU emptied the bullpen to secure the win. He gave up just one hit, though, striking out three while working around three walks.

His ability to remain unfazed even after making some mistakes and putting runners on was key.

“I think that was super important for me and my success for the rest of that inning, for the rest of my outing,” Brown said. “If I would have let one bad at-bat ruin the rest of that first inning, maybe there’s a hole that our offense has to dig, and I didn’t want to be a part of that.”

With the elimination game win over Oral Roberts, TCU advanced to the semifinals at the College World Series and will face Florida. The Horned Frogs will need to beat the Gators twice to reach the championship series.

But just like Brown attacked things one pitch at a time, TCU will have to take it one game at a time. The two teams will meet on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.

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