Tanner Witt assessed the loss in season debut as TCU bats flourish to top Texas 15-7
May 1 started as a day of excitement for the Texas Longhorns baseball program. After taking two-of-three from TCU in Fort Worth, the Longhorns had an opportunity Monday to complete the sweep of the Horned Frogs with preseason first-team All-Big 12 pitcher Tanner Witt making his season debut on the mound.
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Witt underwent Tommy John surgery in the spring of last year. After months spent supporting his teammates and grinding through the recovery process, Texas head coach David Pierce announced in recent weeks that Monday would be when Witt would take the mound in a game for the first time in a game this year.
It was intended to be a controlled environment. Witt would have the luxury of preparing for his 15 to 20 pitches or one inning of work as if he were the starter rather than having to gear up quickly in the bullpen. He even took the mound for the first time since February of 2022 with a 2-0 lead thanks to a Garret Guillemette two-run homer.
Witt allowed a single, coaxed a groundout, hit a batter, surrendered a double, recorded a fielder’s choice, then issued a four-pitch walk during his 23-pitch outing. He was relieved by Heston Tole, who surrendered a first-pitch double that charged two runs to Witt.
As a result, Witt would be assessed the loss in his 2022 debut with a line of 0.2 innings pitched, two hits, one walk, and three earned runs. But the Horned Frogs weren’t finished scoring as they manufactured excitement of their own.
TCU scored three in the first, three in the third, then exploded for seven runs in the fourth before adding two more for good measure in the fifth. Texas plated five runs across the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, but that wasn’t enough to overcome the massive deficit as the Horns fell 15-7.
Texas marched Witt, Tole, Chase Lummus, Zane Morehouse, Charlie Hurley, and Chris Stuart to the bump during the game. Of that group, all but Tole were charged with multiple earned runs.
Pierce said to the radio broadcast after the game there was a lot to absorb from Witt’s outing.
“Definitely, adrenaline was going, of course,” Pierce said. “Just felt like he was probably moving away from the rubber a little bit instead of down, kind of running to the plate, which causes you to drag your arm. You don’t really know what you’re going to get when you’re in a situation like that.
“Like I told the team going into the game in our pregame, Tanner Witt is such a great teammate that they were 100% behind him on this deal. We’ll continue it. We’ve got to help him as he could potentially help us down the road.”
The string of seven runs that TCU scored in the fourth was the result of a number of seeing-eye singles off of Zane Morehouse. The right-hander replaced Lummus in the inning prior after the lefty surrendered a three-run homer to Kurtis Byrne.
Morehouse coaxed the results he wanted off the bat, but the ball found a hole nearly every time. Two consecutive ground balls found the vacancies in the infield to put the first two TCU hitters on in the fourth. Then, a fielder’s choice retired one but put runners on the corners. Another single, then another, then yet another that found just the right spot in the Texas infield followed and three Horned Frogs scored as a result.
“We just didn’t get a good start with Witt, and it kind of snowballed from there,” Pierce said. “We’ve got three guys there in the middle that just have to keep getting better and have to understand getting the ball down and attacking the right way.”
TCU continued to score against Hurley, who relieved Morehouse after 0.2 innings. Hurley finally recorded fourth inning’s third out once the game was 13-2 in the home team’s favor. Though Texas responded in the fifth, sixth, and seventh, they couldn’t cut down the deficit after
Two Longhorns, Peyton Powell and Tanner Carlson, had multi-hit games. In addition to Guillemette’s dinger in the first, Eric Kennedy added one of his own. Plus, Dylan Campbell singled late in the contest to extend his hitting streak to 23 games, a few shy of the program record.
As it pertains to Witt, his next in-game action may not be until next week when the Longhorns are at home on Tuesday with a game versus UT-Arlington.
“You’d probably want it in a different environment,” Pierce said. “Midweek, maybe where he’s just not as exposed. At the same time, it’s definitely important to get the first one out of the way.”
Texas moves to 10-8 in conference play, good for fourth in the Big 12. The Longhorns are off until they head to Lawrence, Kan. for a three-game set with the Kansas Jayhawks beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
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