TCU
14-8, 2-2
San Diego State*
17-8, 5-2
San Diego State Hands TCU 11-5 Loss
3/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 27, 2009
FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU Horned Frogs dropped an 11-5 decision to San Diego State Friday night at Lupton Stadium. Ben Carruthers connected for his second home run of the season to lead off the first inning. TCU scored five runs on seven hits led by a two-hit night from Bryan Holaday.lead-off error got the Aztecs rolling as they took the early lead in the game. With one on and one out, Brandon Meredith hit a bloop single to left and Erik Castro got a ball up in the gusting wind, sending it over the center field wall for a 3-0 lead.
Carruthers got one of the runs back as he battled through an 0-2 count, before connecting on a Stephen Strasburg fastball and depositing over the left field fence for a lead-off home run.
But from there, Strasburg lived up to his billing as he set down the next 14 batters he faced before allowing a two-out single to Holaday in the fifth inning.
He got plenty of offensive support as the Aztecs pushed across runs in five straight innings beginning with the fourth inning. Small ball produced a run in the fourth and a two-run home run by Cory Vaughn in the fifth made it a 6-1 game.
In the sixth inning, the Aztecs threatened to break the game open as they loaded the bases with nobody out. A hit-by-pitch drove in a run, ending Tyler Lockwood's (1-1) evening. Derek VerHagen came on in relief and struck out the first two batters and got Vaughn to fly out to end the inning without further damage.
The Frogs picked up their second run of the game in the bottom of the sixth. Corey Steglich led off the frame with a double and scored on two ground ball outs to make it a 7-2 ball game.
San Diego State responded with four runs in the next two innings to take a commanding 11-2 lead.
TCU's bats came to life in the ninth as they picked up three runs on four hits. Chris Ellington extended his hit streak to seven games with a one-out double. Taylor Featherston came through with a two-out single up the middle to drive in Ellington.
Matt Vern connected with his seventh home run of the season to make it an 11-5 contest. Holaday singled following the home run, but the game ended on a diving catch in center field on a sinking line drive off the bat of Hunt Woodruff.
Lockwood took the loss, allowing seven runs (six earned) on nine hits. He struck out four and walked two in five innings of work. Strasburg improved to 5-0, allowing two runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out 14. The Frogs (14-8, 2-2) will try and get back on the winning track Saturday afternoon. Game two of the series is slated for a 4 p.m. start at Lupton Stadium.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: STRASBURG, Stephen (5-0)
L: Lockwood, Tyler (1-1)
Batting:
2B: CASTRO, Erik 2 ; WILSON, Chris 1 ; BLACKBURN, Mitch 2 ; O'SULLIVAN, Ryan 1
HR: CASTRO, Erik 1 ; WILSON, Chris 1 ; VAUGHN, Cory 1
RBI: COLWELL, Pat 1 ; DECKER, Brandon 1 ; MEREDITH, Brandon 1 ; CASTRO, Erik 3 ; WILSON, Chris 1 ; VAUGHN, Cory 2 ; GUST, Easton 1 ; O'SULLIVAN, Ryan 1
SH: COLWELL, Pat 1 ; DECKER, Brandon 1 ; GUST, Easton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: COLWELL, Pat 1 ; MEREDITH, Brandon 1 ; CASTRO, Erik 2 ; WILSON, Chris 1 ; VAUGHN, Cory 2 ; BLACKBURN, Mitch 2 ; GUST, Easton 1 ; O'SULLIVAN, Ryan 1
HBP: MEREDITH, Brandon 1
Batting:
2B: Ellington, Chris 1 ; Steglich, Corey 1
HR: Carruthers, Ben 1 ; Vern, Matt 1
RBI: Carruthers, Ben 1 ; Carpenter, Matt 1 ; Featherston, Taylor 1 ; Vern, Matt 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Carruthers, Ben 1 ; Ellington, Chris 1 ; Featherston, Taylor 1 ; Vern, Matt 1 ; Steglich, Corey 1
