Colton Griffin drove in the winning runs and nailed the tying run at the plate as TCU baseball edged Arizona State 5-4 in a tense Big 12 opener.
TCU baseball walked into Tempe on Friday night and found exactly what it wanted ... a pressure game, a loud road crowd and a chance to prove this team can handle chaos.
The Horned Frogs did more than survive it. They grabbed it by the throat.
In a 5-4 win over Arizona State, TCU baseball got its defining moment from Colton Griffin, who changed the game with one swing and one throw.
First, Griffin came off the bench and ripped a two-run single in the eighth inning to flip the score. Then, with the game trying to slip away in the ninth, he fired home from left field and erased Sam Myers at the plate to end it.
The wild finish capped a game that had been simmering all night.
Arizona State landed the first blow when PJ Moutzouridis launched a solo homer in the opening inning, but Brady Dallimore answered for TCU in the third with a leadoff shot of his own. From there, the game turned into a pitcher’s duel with occasional bursts of violence.
Mason Brassfield looked like a Friday-night anchor again for the Frogs. The sophomore left-hander worked six strong innings, punched out eight and gave up only one earned run.
Over his last 11 innings, Brassfield has struck out 18 while allowing just two earned runs. Across the diamond, Arizona State’s Cole Carlon was just as nasty, fanning 11 in five innings while showing premium velocity and wipeout stuff.
TCU finally cracked through in the seventh as Sawyer Strosnider made Arizona State regret an intentional walk to Cole Cramer by smashing a two-run double and giving the Frogs a 3-1 edge.
It felt like a turning point, but it wasn’t. Arizona State answered immediately against Walter Quinn, tying the game and setting the stage for Griffin’s late-game heroics.
The Frogs still had one more scare waiting. Tanner Sagouspe came on in the ninth and had to navigate traffic after Arizona State pushed across a run and brought the tying threat to third. Then came the final swing, the fly ball to Griffin, and the laser home to Dallimore that slammed the door.
TCU is now 11-6 overall and 1-0 in conference play, and this win had some bite to it. The only dark note came when Chase Brunson exited with an injury after a hard fall in center field, leaving TCU hoping the damage is minor.
Friday night belonged to Griffin, though. In a game full of heat, he was the match.