No. 4 TCU Overcomes Oral Roberts, 6-4

Tuesday, March 16

Tulsa, Okla.

7:00 PM

TCU

13-2

Oral Roberts

5-7

TCU

Oral Roberts

Tyler Lockwood picked up his first career save.

No. 4 TCU Overcomes Oral Roberts, 6-4

3/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 16, 2010

Final Stats

TULSA, Okla. - The No. 4 TCU Horned Frogs overcame a four-run deficit to post a 6-4 victory over Oral Roberts Tuesday night. The victory runs the Frogs winning streak to five games as they improved to 13-2 on the season. Jason Coats extended his hit streak to 15 games with two hits and Tyler Lockwood tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings for his first save of the season.

Greg Holle picked up his second win in as many starts to improve to 2-0 on the season. He allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits and posted a career-high nine strikeouts while walking none. Lockwood was brilliant in relief as he held the Golden Eagels in check for 3 1/3 innings. He allowed just two base runners on one hit and a walk. The senior fanned four batters along the way to pick up the save.

Along with his two hits, Coats drove in a run and scored a run. Jimmie Pharr, Jerome Pena and Aaron Schultz also collected RBIs in the victory.

The Frogs found themselves facing a 4-0 hole after an inning of work as the Golden Eagles took advantage of a fielding miscue by the Frogs. Joey Winiecki singled to lead off the inning and Nick Baligod reached on the first of three Horned Frog errors in the game. With one swing of the bat, Tyler Saladino staked Oral Roberts to a 3-0 lead. A one-out double by Seth Furmanek scored on a ground out off the bat of P.J. Sequeira.

Holle settled into a groove following the rocky first inning as he never faced more than four batters in the inning the rest of the way. He retired six straight following the double by Furmanek before another Frog error put a runner on in the third, but he was able to get out of the inning without any damage. After allowing a one-out single in the fourth, Holle set down eight in row. A two-out hit in the sixth ended his evening.

Meanwhile, the Frogs offense came to life in the third as they erased the deficit and took a 5-0 lead. Three Golden Eagle errors and four hits helped the Frogs cause. Holaday got the ball rolling with a one-out doubled. Coats' first hit of the night plated Bryan Holaday with the Frogs first run of the game. Matt Curry followed with a double and an errant throw by the first baseman allowed Coats to race home with run No. 2.

After Josh Elander worked a walk, Pharr reached on an infield single to drive in Curry from third. Instead of holding the ball, the shortstop made an ill-advised throw, allowing Elander to move up to third. Pena drove a ball to right center that was misplayed by the center fielder and Elander scored the tying run. On the play, Pena made it to second and Pharr to third, where he scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Schultz for the 5-4 lead.

Oral Roberts wasted a golden opportunity to potentially tie the game in the bottom of the inning as Saladino reached on an error with one out. A botched attempt at turning a double play put two on with only one out. Holle fanned Furmanek and Holaday caught Saladino straying too far off second base for the final out of the inning.

The Golden Eagles went to their bullpen in the fourth inning and Bryce Smolen did his best to keep his team in the game. The Frogs mustered just two base runners from the fourth through seventh inning.

TCU finally broke through with an insurance run in the eighth inning. Pena was plunked by a one-out pitch and moved to third on a well-executed hit-and-run by Schultz. A wild pitch by Golden Eagle reliever Jeff Burleson allowed the Frogs to score to make it a 6-4 game.

After issuing a one-out walk in the eighth, Lockwood got Furmanek to bounce into the inning-ending double play. He retired the side in order in the ninth to lock up the victory.

TCU improves to 13-2 on the season. The Frogs will open up defense of their Mountain West Conference crown Thursday night when they host BYU. Game time for the series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. at Lupton Stadium.

Game Notes:
* Jason Coats extended his hit streak to 15 games with his two hits.
* Josh Elander saw his 14-game hitting streak come to an end.
* The save for Tyler Lockwood was the first of his career.
* The last three starting pitchers for the Horned Frogs have not issued a walk.
* TCU has doled out just two walks in the last 3344 innings pitched while racking up 28 strikeouts.