Eighth Inning Runs Propel No. 24 TCU To Victory

Friday, February 25

Lupton Stadium

7:00 PM

TCU

6-3

Dallas Baptist

6-4

Dallas Baptist

TCU

Shelby Ford will help the team kick off the 2004-05 season.

Eighth Inning Runs Propel No. 24 TCU To Victory

2/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 25, 2005

Fort Worth, Texas - The No. 24 TCU Horned Frogs used two eighth inning runs to come from behind to defeat the Dallas Baptist Patriots Friday night at Lupton Stadium. Brad Furnish dominated in his seven innings of work as he tied a career-high with eight strikeouts and Shelby Ford continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-3 at the plate with three stolen bases.

The Patriots were mystified all night by Furnish as they only managed two hits in seven innings, one a slow-rolling dribbler to second base and the other a base hit to left center. The Patriots managed to take advantage of the dribbler hit by Matt Tucker to lead off the third inning. Tucker promptly stole second base and after a strikeout, moved to third on a passed ball. A wild pitch plated Tucker with the first run of the game.

The Frogs squandered numerous chances to score in the early innings as they had runners on in each of the first six innings. Andrew Walker and Ford singled in the first with two outs, but the Frogs were unable to come up with the big hit. Lead-off doubles in the third and fourth went by the boards, keeping the Patriots in the lead, 1-0.

After the run scoring third, Furnish settled in retiring the next nine batters he faced before walking Brad Boles to lead off the sixth. The Patriot couldn't get a ball to fall as they stranded two in the inning, still leading 1-0.

The Frogs finally hit paydirt in the bottom of the sixth when Ford took a pitch off the elbow to start the inning. Two stolen-bases later, Ford was on third with nobody out. Chad Huffman grounded out to the shortstop to drive in the tying run.

Chad Underwood (2-0) came on in the eighth inning after Tucker walked to start the inning. He retired all three batters he faced in the eighth, recording one strikeout.

The Frogs were finally able to put together a string of hits to take the lead in the eighth. With two outs, Ford singled and stole second. Huffman came through in the clutch singling up the middle to plate Ford. An error by the centerfielder allowed Huffman to move up to second. J.J. Estrada delivered his second double of the game to send pinch-runner Bo Cogbill to the plate with the eventual game-winning run.

"I started off 0-2," said Huffman. "I was making sure I had a good pitch to swing at. I got a change-up down and stayed back on it and hit it up the middle."

The Patriots pushed across an unearned run in the ninth to account for the final score. Shawn Ferguson struck out Sean Burgess looking to end the game, giving him his second save of the season.

The Frogs and the Patriots will play a split doubleheader tomorrow beginning at 11:00 a.m. with game one. Game two will commence at 4:00 p.m.