TCU Baseball Loses Opener At Ole Miss
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OXFORD, Miss. – TCU had a chance to tie the game in the ninth, but an interference call ended the game and the Horned Frogs fell 1-0 to Ole Miss Friday night. Brett Johnson led the Frog offense with two hits.
Trailing 1-0 heading to the top of the ninth inning, the Frogs wouldn’t go quietly as they battled to load the bases with only one out. Jantzen Witte reached on an error to open the inning and moved to second on a bunt single from Johnson. Davy Wright pinch hit and laid down a perfect sacrifice to put the tying run on third. After an intentional walk to Dylan Fitzgerald, Kevin Daniels stepped to the plate.
Daniels grounded to first and the Rebels attempted to turn the game-ending double play. TCU thought it had tied the game when the relay throw never came back, but an interference call was made and the game was over.
With runs at a premium in the contest, Finnegan and Bobby Wahl went toe-to-toe in the first four innings of the contest. TCU had the early chances, but Wahl found just enough in the tank to eliminate the threats.
Cody Jones led off the game with a double. A one-out walk to Kevin Cron had two on for
the middle of the order. Wahl struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
Finnegan pitched around singles in the third and fourth innings, but couldn’t get around the lead-off single in the fifth. Sikes Orvis led off the inning with a bouncer up the middle and moved to second on a ground out. A passed ball had Orvis standing on third with only one out. Will Jamison laid down a perfect suicide squeeze and the Rebels had a 1-0 lead.
Prior to the Rebels scoring their run, the Frogs wasted a chance to take the lead. Keaton Jones and Kyle Bacak worked back-to-back one out walks. A sacrifice bunt from Cody Jones had both runners in scoring position. Wahl wiggled off the hook with a strikeout to end the inning and put the momentum squarely in the Rebel dugout.
The Rebels were looking to push across more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as they loaded the bases with only one out. Finnegan got a big strikeout for out No. 2, then induced a foul out off the bat of Andrew Mistone to end the inning.
Brandon Finnegan (0-1) was solid in his season debut for the Frogs. He went six innings, allowing just one unearned run on five hits. He struck out four, hit a batter and walked two. Alex Young retired all six batters he faced in his two innings of work. The freshman recorded his first career strikeout in the game.
TCU falls to 0-1 on the young season. Game two of the series is slated for Saturday afternoon at Oxford-University Stadium. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.
