ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Brayden Taylor hit his 44th career home run to tie the program record, Karson Bowen went 4 for 4 with two RBIs and TCU routed Kansas State 16-3 in seven innings on Wednesday to begin the Big 12 Tournament.
Taylor opened the scoring with a three-run homer as TCU batted around in a five-run first inning. Taylor added an RBI double in the second and a two-run double in the fourth to make it 16-2.
Fourth-seeded TCU (34-22), which closed out the regular season with a 2-1 series win at Kansas State, advances to the winners' bracket on Thursday while Kansas State (33-23), the No. 5 seed, plays in a consolation game.
TCU starter Cam Brown (4-2) struck out four in 3 1/3 innings of work before three walks and a hit batter gifted Kansas State its first run of the game. Jax Traeger took over and worked out of a jam, leaving the bases loaded.
TCU answered in the bottom of the fourth with six runs and Traeger struck out three in the sixth.
Owen Boerema (7-2) allowed eight earned runs in an inning of work for Kansas State.