TCU Rallies Past Rice With 6-4 Victory

Tuesday, March 15

Houston, Texas

6:30 PM

TCU

13-3

Rice

8-8

TCU

Rice

TCU Rallies Past Rice With 6-4 Victory

3/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 15, 2016

Final Stats

HOUSTON – Down to its final five outs and facing a 4-1 deficit, TCU rallied to tie the game at four in the eighth then scored twice in the ninth to complete the comeback for a 6-4 win at Rice.

The Rundown
With one out in the eighth, Evan Skoug and Luken Baker drew back-to-back walks to bring the tying run to the plate. Elliott Barzilli ripped a double into left to start the comeback. After an RBI-groundout from Ryan Merrill pulled the Frogs within one, Dane Steinhagen battled through a nine-pitch at-bat with a single through the left side, tying the game at four.

The comeback was completed in the ninth as the Frogs pushed across two runs on just one hit. Skoug opened the frame with a base hit and moved to second on another walk to Baker. Trying to turn a double play, the relay throw back to first got away, allowing Skoug to score. With the infield in, Barzilli hit a hotshot at the shortstop, but his throw was too late and Josh Watson slid in safely with the insurance run.

Rice scored first run of the game on a two-out bunt single in the second. TCU fought back to tie the game in the top of the third on a Cam Warner base hit.

The game stayed tied until the fifth inning. With two runners in scoring position and two out, Charlie Warren lined a single into right to make it a 3-1 game. Rice added another two-out run in the sixth to push the lead to three, 4-1, setting up TCU's late-inning heroics.

Dalton Horton started for TCU and allowed three runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings. Brian Trieglaff (2-0) earned the win in relief as he tossed three scoreless frames. The junior allowed just one hit and struck out two.

Stat of the Game
5 – TCU scored five runs in its final two at-bats to rally from a three-run deficit.

Quotes of the Game
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
"Going into the seventh inning, I really feel like we played well the whole night. I thought (Dalton) Horton was really good. He just elevated one pitch."

"I thought our at-bats were outstanding. We had made some really hard outs. Sometimes you can play really well and still lose the game. I was starting that speech in my mind, but our guys stuck with their at-bats. (Brian) Trieglaff did such a great job. We just continued to grind out at-bats and finally got the ball to go through."

"It's the first time that we've play a close game where we've played from behind and won the game late this year. We've played from behind early and won big, but in terms of staying in the game late and having a late inning comeback, that's a great thing for a young team that's never been through that."

Notes
• TCU has scored multiple runs in an inning 30 times this season.
• TCU played errorless baseball for the seventh time this season.
• TCU outhit its opponent for the 13th time this season.
• Ryan Merrill stretched his hitting streak to eight games.
• Dane Steinhagen collected his fifth multi-hit game of the year and the 23rd of his career.
• Evan Skoug has reached base safely in 11 straight games.
• Elliott Barzilli collected his ninth multi-hit game of the year and the 24th of his career.
• Elliott Barzilli notched his team-leading seventh multiple-RBI game of the season and the 14th of his career.

Next Up
With the win, TCU improves to 13-3 on the season. The Horned Frogs are set to open Big 12 play Friday night when West Virginia comes to Lupton Stadium. First pitch in the series is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m.