TCU Sweeps Air Force
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FORT WORTH, Texas – The TCU Horned Frogs completed the sweep of Air Force with a 6-2 victory Sunday afternoon. The win stretches the Frogs’ winning streak to six games and moved them into a tie for first place in conference play. Josh Elander and Jantzen Witte each homered for the Frogs.
Stefan Crichton improved to 5-0 with the victory on Sunday. He gave up two runs on nine hits and struck out four. Brandon Finnegan allowed just one hit, walked a batter and fanned two. Kevin Allen surrendered a hit and struck out one in 2/3 of an inning. Kaleb Merck pitched a perfect ninth inning to close out the game.
Air Force jumped out to an early lead in the first inning, scoring a run on three hits. Garrett Custons singled with one out and moved to second on a two-out base hit by Alex Bast. David Thomas bounced a single through the infield, driving in Custons for a 1-0 Falcon lead.
The Falcons threatened to add to their lead in the top of the third inning after Blair Roberts reached on a wild pitch and stole second. An error had runners at the corners with nobody out. Crichton worked out of the jam, starting a 1-6-3 double play, while holding the runner at third, then got a grounder to third to end the inning.
TCU turned the momentum into a four-run bottom of the third. Keaton Jones led off the inning with a double to deep center field. Brance Rivera moved him to third with a sacrifice bunt and Jones scored the game-tying run on a ground out off the bat of Kyle Von Tungeln. Witte kept the inning alive with a base hit up the middle and Jerrick Suiter walked to put two on. Elander put the Frogs on top 4-1 with a three-run blast to left field.
A two-out rally in the fourth by Air Force had it positioned to get back into the contest. Three straight two-out hits loaded the bases for Roberts. He delivered with a bouncer up the middle that drove in a run. Trying to score from second on the hit was Noah Pierce, but a laser thrown to home plate by Elander was in time for the catcher to tag him for the third out of the inning with TCU leading 4-2.
The Frogs added to their lead in the fifth inning, taking advantage of a one-out double by Witte. Suiter followed with a single through the left side, then helped break up a potential inning-ending double play ball to allow Witte to score to make it a 5-2 game.
Air Force put the pressure on the Frogs in the eighth inning as they had runners on the corners with two outs. Allen got out of the jam as he induced a fly ball off the bat of Jake Schomaker to end the inning.
Witte capped the Frogs’ scoring in the game with one swing of his bat as he connected for his first home run of the season to lead off the eighth inning.
The victory moves TCU to 20-13 overall and 9-3 in league play. The Frogs will wrap up a season-long 12-game homestand Tuesday night when they host Louisiana-Monroe. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. at Lupton Stadium.
