TCU Baseball Squeezes Past UTA

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FORT WORTH – Kyle Bacak and Kevin Daniels executed a safety squeeze in the eighth inning to help TCU to a 2-1 win over UT Arlington on Tuesday night.

Brett Johnson was hit by the pitch to open up the eighth inning. Josh Gonzales sacrificed Johnson to second who was then lifted for a pinch runner. Keaton Jones lined a single into right field to put runners on the corners. Facing a 2-0 count, Bacak laid down a perfect safety squeeze down the first base line and Daniels slid home safely with the go-ahead run.

Riley Ferrell retired the Mavericks in order in the ninth to tally his third save of the season. Justin Scharf (2-2) took over in the seventh and was credited with the win after pitching two shutout innings. The senior allowed two hits and struck out one in relief.

TCU jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Cody Jones singled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run off the bat of Boomer White. Jantzen Witte bounced into a 5-4-3 double play, but on the play Cody Jones scored.

Andrew Mitchell started for the Horned Frogs and pitched two scoreless innings. In the first, he walked one and gave up a hit with one out but got an inning-ending 3-6-1 double play to

get out of the game. In the second the Mavericks loaded the bases with two outs, but Mitchell got a ground ball to end the inning.

TCU needed another double play to keep hold of its lead in the third inning. Stefan Crichton took over on the mound and had two on with only one out. Keaton Jones started an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to preserve the lead.

UT Arlington finally got the game tied in the sixth inning as it took advantage of a lead-off double from Greg McCall. A one-out base hit by John-Michael Twichell tied the game at one. The Mavericks threatened to take the lead as they loaded the bases on a two-out infield single off the bat of Travis Sibley, but Trevor Seidenberger struck out his third batter of the inning to strand the go-ahead run at third.

TCU improves to 26-25 overall. The Horned Frogs close out the regular season with a three-game series against Texas beginning Thursday night at 6:30.