TCU
9-2
Wichita State
6-5
No. 11 TCU Sweeps Wichita State with 12-3 Win
3/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 8, 2009
FORT WORTH, Texas - A big first inning propelled the No. 11 TCU Horned Frogs to a 12-3 win over Wichita State Sunday afternoon at Lupton Stadium. The sweep is the first of the season for the Frogs, who improve to 9-2 on the young season. Matt Vern homered for the third straight game to lead an offense that pounded out 15 hits in the game. The bullpen tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings to help the effort.
For the first time in the series, the Shockers jumped out to the early lead, scoring a run on three hits. The Frogs avoided further damage as starter Kyle Winkler got Clinton McKeever to ground into a double play and then picked off Ryan Jones at third to end the inning.
A furious two-out rally in the bottom of the inning saw the Frogs score five times to take a lead they would never relinquish. Chris Ellington started things with a double and Matt Curry walked ahead of Jason Coats, who delivered a two-run double to give the Frogs the lead. Taylor Featherston reached on an infield single and Vern connected for his fourth home run of the season, sending it over the fence in center field for the 5-1 lead.
The Shockers picked up two unearned run in the top of the third, but the Frogs responded with two of their own in the bottom of the frame. Vern doubled, stole third and scored on a base hit from Bryan Holaday. A single by Corey Steglich put runner s on the corners for Ben Carruthers who delivered a sacrifice fly, giving the Frogs a 7-3 lead.
Wichita State looked like it would get back into the game in the fourth inning, but horrible base running ended the threat. The Shockers had runners on the corners with nobody out when they attempted to steal second. TCU reliever Paul Gerrish turned and threw to second, catching Cody Lassley in a rundown. Vern tagged Lassley out midway to second, turned and threw home, where Holaday was waiting to tag Taylor Brown out coming from third, who had broke during the rundown. Gerrish fanned the final batter of the inning to maintain the 7-3 advantage.
TCU broke the game open in the fifth with a four-run inning. Vern was hit by the pitch leading off the inning and Holaday reached on a bunt single. Corey Steglich singled and a run scored on a throwing error by the third baseman. A wild pitch allowed the second run of the inning to score and Matt Carpenter hit a sacrifice fly to center to clear the bases. Ellington hit a two-out home run to extend the Frog lead to 11-3.
Zac Jordan's first career hit in the seventh inning drove in another run to account for the final score.
In the no-decision, Winkler allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits in 2 1/3 innings of work. Gerrish (1-0) earned the win, tossing 2 2/3 scoreless innings. Eric Marshall tossed two innings of scoreless relief as did Walker Kelly to close out the victory. Marshall fanned two batters, while Kelly finished with three strikeouts.
The Frogs will hit the road for one game as they travel to San Marcos for the final meeting of the season against Texas State. Game time against the Bobcats is set for 6:30 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gerrish, Paul (1-0)
L: Cooper, Jordan (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Letourneau, Andrew 1 ; Jones, Ryan 1
RBI: Baez, Will 2 ; McKeever, Clinton 1
SF: Baez, Will 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Letourneau, Andrew 2 ; Jones, Ryan 1
SB: Letourneau, Andrew 1 ; Jones, Ryan 1
CS: Jones, Ryan 1 ; Brown, Taylor 1 ; Lassley, Cody 1 ; Hall, Kevin 1
HBP: Rosecrans, Josh 1 ; Gilmore, Taylor 1
PO: Jones, Ryan 1
Batting:
2B: Ellington, Chris 1 ; Coats, Jason 1 ; Vern, Matt 1
HR: Ellington, Chris 1 ; Vern, Matt 1
RBI: Carruthers, Ben 1 ; Carpenter, Matt 1 ; Ellington, Chris 1 ; Coats, Jason 2 ; Jordan, Zac 1 ; Vern, Matt 3 ; Holaday, Bryan 1
SF: Carruthers, Ben 1 ; Carpenter, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Carruthers, Ben 1 ; Ellington, Chris 2 ; Curry, Matt 1 ; Coats, Jason 1 ; Featherston, Taylor 1 ; Vern, Matt 3 ; Holaday, Bryan 2 ; Steglich, Corey 1
SB: Vern, Matt 1
HBP: Featherston, Taylor 1 ; Vern, Matt 1 ; Holaday, Bryan 1
