Win Streak Reaches Five, TCU Tops ACU, 6-4

Tuesday, March 22

Lupton Stadium

6:30 PM

TCU

17-3

Abilene Christian

9-11

Abilene Christian

TCU

Win Streak Reaches Five, TCU Tops ACU, 6-4

3/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 22, 2016

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

FORT WORTH – No. 4 TCU made a six-run first inning stand up in a 6-4 victory over Abilene Christian Tuesday night at Lupton Stadium. The win pushes TCU's winning streak to five games.

The Rundown
A one-out error by the Wildcats proved costly as the Horned Frogs turned it into a 6-0 lead. With runners on the corners, Luken Baker hit a rocket past the third baseman to put the Frogs on top, 1-0. Two batters later, the bases were loaded for Ryan Merrill, who delivered a two-run single to right. Dane Steinhagen followed with a three-run home run to double the Frogs' lead.

That was all the offense Dalton Horton (3-0) would need. He pitched out of an early jam in the first inning and cruised through the sixth inning. Horton finished the night with 10 strikeouts. At one point, he had retired 16 of 18 batters faced. The lone blemish was a two-out home run from Austin Call in the sixth.

Abilene Christian made the game interesting in the seventh. With two on and nobody out, Kyle Carroll hit a three-run home run to left to pull the Wildcats within two, 6-4. Preston Guillory came on to close out the seventh inning.

Jared Janczak pitched a scoreless eighth inning before giving way to Durbin Feltman in the ninth. The freshman struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth to tally his first career save.

Stat of the Game
15 – The TCU pitching staff tallied a season-high 15 strikeouts in the game.

Quotes of the Game
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
"He (Dalton Horton) was outstanding. I thought the story of the game was him. It's great for his confidence. That three-run home run doesn't mean anything to me. He mixed four pitches for strikes and that's a really good sign for us."

"The quality of our at-bats was good, though. With this wind, we still squared balls up, hit a line drive to the shortstop, a bunch of balls hard to center field. If we'd have pulled those balls the way they did, they might have been home runs, too."

"I didn't feel like our energy was lacking. If anything, sometimes when you get up 6-0 and you've got a pitcher that's coasting, it's natural to kind of put it on cruise control. There may have been a little bit of that. Believe me, I was thinking the same thing – you score six early, you'd like to put it to them, but it was a great job by them to get back in the game."

Notes
• TCU outhit its opponent for the 17th time this season.
• TCU has scored four or more runs in an inning 17 times this season.
• TCU improved to 13-3 at home this season and 11-2 in the month of March.
• Austen Wade picked up his sixth multi-hit game of the season.
• Wade has had two or more hits in four straight games.
• Elliott Barzilli collected his 12th multi-hit game of the year and the 27th of his career.
• Ryan Merrill collected his third multiple-RBI game of the season.
• Ryan Merrill has reached base safely in 11 straight.
• Dane Steinhagen notched his sixth multiple-RBI game of the season and the 13th of his career.
• Cam Warner stretched his hitting streak to nine games.

Next Up
With the victory, TCU improves to 17-3 on the season. The Horned Frogs will hit the road starting Thursday night at Texas. TCU will play 10 of its next 11 games away from Lupton Stadium. First pitch against the Longhorns is set for 6 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN3 and the Longhorn Network.