TCU
37-16, 17-5
New Mexico
32-21, 16-6
Frogs inch closer to title, top New Mexico 8-3
5/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2008
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The TCU Horned Frogs inched closer to the regular season title as they came away with an 8-3 victory over New Mexico in the first game of a doubleheader Friday afternoon. TCU needs to win one of the next two games to assure itself the regular season title. The Frogs offense scored eight runs on 15 hits and Tyler Lockwood did his job on the mound with eight solid innings of work. Steve Ellington was the offensive star with a career-high four hits, while Matt Carpenter delivered the big blow with a three-run home run in the seventh.The Frogs jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, taking advantage of a fielding error by third baseman, Ian Hollick. Lobo starter Bobby LaFromboise retired the first two batters of the inning before Clint Arnold reached safely on the fielding error. Chris Ellington came through with a long double to center field that scored Arnold from first for the early 1-0 lead.
TCU tacked on another run in the second inning. Bryan Holaday led off the inning with his second triple of the season. Hunt Woodruff executed small ball perfectly, hitting the ball to the right side to bring in Holaday for the 2-0 lead.
The Frogs continued to get base runners on, but a couple of base running blunders kept them off the scoreboard until the sixth inning. Meanwhile, Lockwood was on cruise control, mowing through the Lobo order. He faced the minimum 12 batters through the four innings, allowing a hit and a walk. They were erased via the double play ball and a caught stealing. He worked around a two-out single in the fifth.
Back-to-back doubles from Carpenter and Holaday helped extend the lead to 3-0 in the sixth. Lockwood pitched around a one-out double in the bottom of the frame to keep the Frogs in control.
A four-run seventh inning put the Frogs firmly in control. With one out in the inning, the Lobos went to their bullpen and called on Will Kerr. He walked Ben Carruthers and Steve Ellington executed a hit-and-run to perfection, moving Carruthers to third. Arnold lined a base hit to right to bring in Carruthers. After a strikeout, Carpenter unloaded for his seventh home run of the season, a three-run shot that gave TCU a comfortable 7-0 lead.
The Lobos finally got something going in the bottom of the frame. Three straight hits greeted Lockwood as New Mexico picked up a run with nobody out. With runners on the corner, Lockwood got Raphael Neda to ground into a double play, which drove in a run, but cleared the bases. He retired Cody Wilson for the final out of the inning.
After a scoreless eighth inning, the Frogs tacked on a run in the top of the ninth. Carruthers led off with a base hit and moved to third on a Steve Ellington base hit. Arnold drove in his second run of the game with a groundball to second.
New Mexico struck for a run in the bottom of the inning, breaking Taylor Cragin's streak of 14 innings without allowing a run. Cragin allowed the one run on two hits.
Lockwood improved to 6-1 on the season. He went eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out two. Even more impressive was the 17 ground ball outs the right-hander induced.
The Frogs, winners of eight straight, improves to 37-16 overall and 17-5 in league play.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lockwood, Tyler (6-1)
L: LAFROMBOISE (5-3)
Batting:
2B: Ellington, Steve 1 ; Ellington, Chris 1 ; Carpenter, Matt 1 ; Holaday, Bryan 1
3B: Holaday, Bryan 1
HR: Carpenter, Matt 1
RBI: Arnold, Clint 2 ; Ellington, Chris 1 ; Carpenter, Matt 3 ; Holaday, Bryan 1 ; Woodruff, Hunt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Carruthers, Ben 2 ; Ellington, Steve 1 ; Arnold, Clint 2 ; Carpenter, Matt 2 ; Holaday, Bryan 1
PO: Carruthers, Ben 1
Batting:
2B: CAVAZOS-GALV 1 ; GRACEY, S 1
RBI: ATKINSON, K 2
SF: ATKINSON, K 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HIBBITTS, M 2 ; CAVAZOS-GALV 1
CS: COURCHA, A 1
