TCU
UNLV*
Frogs Complete Sweep of UNLV with 10-3 Victory
5/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 16, 2009
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - A day after clinching their fourth regular season title, the No. 14 TCU Horned Frogs completed the sweep of UNLV with a 10-3 victory over the Rebels Saturday afternoon to complete the regular season. Kyle Winkler was solid in the victory en route to his fifth win of the season. With two doubles on the day, Matt Carpenter tied a single-season school record as he moved his season total to 21.For the first time in the series, the Horned Frogs jumped out to the early lead. Matt Curry broke up a string of six straight retired by UNLV starter Jeff Urlaub with a double to the left center gap. Steglich put TCU on top with his second home run in as many days as he sent the ball sailing over the left field fence for a 2-0 lead.
TCU added to its lead in the third with another two spot as it doubled its lead to 4-0. Matt Carpenter and Matt Vern traded doubles to make it a 3-0 game. A Chris Ellington ground out moved Vern to third with only one out where he scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Bryan Holaday.
J.J. Sferra singled to lead off the fourth, breaking up a string of nine straight retired by Winkler to open the game. A sacrifice moved Sferra to second and Ryan Thornton came through with a double to get the Rebels on the board. Winkler got a quick second out before issuing a walk and hitting a batter to load the bases. The freshman rallied and struck out Bryan Resnick looking to end the Rebel threat.
With one swing of the bat, Schultz got the run back, restoring the Frogs four-run lead, 5-1. Schultz hit a line-drive home run to straight away center for his second home run of the season.
TCU kept its scoring streak going in the sixth as it picked up two more runs to push the lead out to 7-1. Vern started things with a double to right. With one out, he swiped third before Rebel reliever Michael Goodman issued a walk to Holaday. Jason Coats pushed his hitting streak to 10 games with a double to left that plated Vern and moved Holaday to third. A Goodman wild pitch scored Holaday.
UNLV took advantage of a one-out walk and turned it into its second run of the ballgame. Following the walk to Jesse Wight, Anthony Morel delivered an opposite field triple to make it a 7-2 game. Steglich made a diving catch on a sinking line drive off the bat of Kyle Kretchmer to hold the runner at third and Winkler got Resnick to strike out for the third time in the game to end the inning.
Winkler (5-0) gave way to Taylor Cragin in the seventh inning. He tossed six solid innings, surrendering just two runs on four hits while walking two and striking out three. Cragin tossed two scoreless innings, allowing a hit and striking out two. Greg Holle finished the game, giving up a run on three hits with one strike out.
An error in the ninth proved costly for the Rebels as it cost them three more runs. Curry walked to lead off the inning and gave way to pinch runner Brance Rivera. Schultz reached on an error and Steglich drove in Rivera with his third RBI of the game with a single through the left side. Carpenter doubled in pinch-runner, Ben Carruthers and Steglich scored on a sacrifice fly from Ellington.
The Frogs finish the regular season with a record of 35-14 overall and a 15-5 mark in league play. They will begin defense of the tournament crown Wednesday night at Lupton Stadium. The Frogs receive a bye in the first round and will take on the tournament's lowest-advancing seed from the first day. First pitch for that contest will be 7 p.m.
The 2009 Conoco MWC Tournament commences on Tuesday beginning at 3 p.m. The first game will feature No. 3 BYU against No. 6 Utah followed by the night game which will see No. 5 UNLV square off against No. 4 San Diego State. First pitch for that contest is 7 pm
