TCU Baseball Gets 2-1 Victory Over UNLV
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FORT WORTH, Texas – The TCU Horned Frogs played smallball to eke out a 2-1 win over UNLV Saturday afternoon. RBIs from Keaton Jones and Jantzen Witte helped lead the Frogs to their sixth straight home victory.
Andrew Mitchell (2-2) allowed one hit, struck out four and walked six in 5 1/3 innings pitched. Preston Morrison was touched for a run on one hit. Preston Morrison tallied his first career save after holding the Rebels to a run on one hit in 3 2/3 innings pitched. He struck out a career-high five and walked one.
UNLV threatened to take an early lead with two outs in the first inning. Trent Cook singled with two outs and Mitchell issued back-to-back walks to load the bases. He got out of the jam as he fielded his position to retire Cole Wilstead for the final out of the frame.
The Horned Frogs broke the deadlock in the bottom of the fifth, scoring a run on two hits. Witte was plunked to open the inning and moved to second on a base hit by Jerrick Suiter. Kevin Cron dropped a bunt single down the third base line to load the bases with nobody out. Jones did his job, executing a suicide squeeze with one out to give the Frogs a 1-0 lead.
TCU added to its lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. Coats reached on a bunt single with one out and moved to second on a wild pitch. A passed ball advanced Coats to third and Witte laid down a safety squeeze to give the Frogs a 2-0 lead.
Back-to-back walks with one out in the sixth had the Rebels threatening to tie the game. Morrison came on in relief and got a big strikeout then a solid defensive play by Davy Wright ended the inning as he gloved the ball right to Cron for the final out of the inning.
Trevor Kirk broke the shutout bid with a lead-off home run in the top of the eighth inning to make it a 2-1 contest. Morrison issued a two-out walk, but retired the final four batters he faced to close out the victory.
TCU improves to 14-10 overall and moves into a tie for first in the league with a 6-2 record. The Frogs will go for the sweep Sunday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. Brandon Finnegan will take the mound for the Horned Frogs.
