TCU
Stephen F. Austin
No. 16 TCU Rolls to 10-2 Victory
3/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 24, 2009
FORT WORTH, Texas - The No. 16 TCU Horned Frogs got solid pitching and timely hitting as they rolled to a 10-2 win over Stephen F. Austin Tuesday night. Greg Holle improved to 3-0 on the season with five solid innings and Chris Ellington notched his fourth home run of the season in the win.
A lead-off walk to Ben Carruthers in the first inning got the Frogs off on the right foot as they took the early 1-0 lead. With two on and one out, Matt Curry delivered a base hit through the right side to plate Carruthers with the first run of the game.
The Lumberjacks put together a two-out rally to get the game knotted at one in the second. Justin Long doubled to start the rally and scored on a base hit off the bat of Joe Staley.
A two-run third inning for TCU put the Frogs back on top to stay. Again, it was a lead-off walk that got the Frogs rolling. An error by the third baseman put runners on the corners with nobody out. Curry again put the Frogs on top as he dumped a single into left field to drive in Matt Carpenter. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Taylor Featherston gave the Frogs a 3-1 advantage.
Holle continued to work out of two-out jams as he left two on in the third and three on in the fifth inning. In five innings of work, the right-hander allowed just one run on seven hits. He walked two and struck out two in the win.
A lead-off error in the sixth came back to haunt the Lumberjacks as the Frogs turned it into a run, giving them a 4-1 lead. Vern reached on the lead-off error and scored all the way from first on a double to the left center gap off the bat of Bryan Holaday.
Another lead-off walk to Carpenter in the seventh turned into another TCU run. Carpenter stole second with two outs and scored on a base hit up the middle from Featherston to push the lead out to 5-1.
The Lumberjacks picked up an unearned run in the top of the eighth as they took advantage of a lead-off error by the Frogs. A base hit by Long put runners on the corners with one out and Jarid Scarafiotti delivered a sacrifice fly to make it a 5-2 contest.
TCU put the game out of reach in the eighth with five runs on four hits. Pinch hitter Hunt Woodruff tripled with one out. Brance Rivera followed with his first career base hit, an RBI single that drove in pinch-runner Eric Givens. After a walk to Carruthers, Carpenter doubled to left field to drive in Rivera. Ellington followed with a three-run blast to center field to make it a 10-2 game.
Paul Gerrish was terrific in relief, allowing just an unearned run on one hit with five strikeouts. Kaleb Merck recovered from a lead-off walk to strike out the side in the ninth.
The Frogs (14-6) will hit the road on Wednesday as they head to Waco for the final meeting of the season against the No. 11 Baylor Bears. Game time is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Baylor Ballpark.
