TCU Baseball Tops UT Arlington At Ballpark
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ARLINGTON, Texas – The TCU Horned Frogs topped UT Arlington 5-4 in a tightly contested game Tuesday night at The Ballpark in Arlington. Jerrick Suiter gave the Frogs a lead in the fourth they would never relinquish with a two-run double.
Tuesday’s contest was a back-and-forth affair that saw the Horned Frogs battle back from an early 2-0 deficit. Stefan Crichton was strong in relief as held off the Maverick bats for 2 2/3 innings to earn the win. He allowed just one run on two hits and struck out two. Alex Young retired all six batters he faced to earn his first career save. The freshman fanned two in his two innings of work.
UT Arlington struck first in the opening frame of the game. Matt Shortall was plunked on the foot with two outs and scored easily on a triple to left center off the bat of Justin Copeland for a 1-0 lead.
The Mavericks scratched across another two out run in the second inning. With a pair of runners on, Trevor Seidenberger unleashed a wild pitch that took a crazy carom off the backstop and ricocheted down the first base line, allowing the runner to score for a 2-0 lead.
Cody Jones used his legs to get the Frogs on the board in the third. He was plunked to open the inning and promptly stole second. Kyle Bacak lined a fly ball to deep center field, allowing Jones to tag up and move to third with only one out. Keaton Jones hit a sacrifice fly to left to make it a 2-1 contest.
The Horned Frogs found a little two-out magic of their own in the top of the fourth. Jantze Witte drew a
lead-off walk and moved to second on a one-out base hit off the bat of Kevin Cron. With two outs, Jerrick Suiter hit a towering fly ball to left field that just missed being a home run by mere inches. Both runners scored easily for a 3-2 TCU lead. Cody Jones followed with a base hit to left to make it a 4-2 contest.
UT Arlington cut into the Horned Frog lead in the fourth inning. Derek Miller singled with one out and scored on a double off the bat of Ryan Walker. Crichton came on in relief and got a pair of ground balls to strand the tying run on third.
TCU added an insurance run in the top of the seventh to regain the two-run lead, 5-3. Keaton Jones hit a line drive right at the second baseman, but the first baseman vacated the bag and Jones beat the pitcher to the bag for an infield single. Dylan Fitzgerald followed with a base hit to right to put runners on the corners. Witte grounded out to drive in what proved to be the winning run.
A hit batter in the seventh ignited the Mavericks as they pushed hard to get the game tied. Miller was standing on first with two outs when another ball took a wild path off the backstop allowing the batter to reach on a wild pitch. Copeland followed, lining a double to the right center field gap. Fitzgerald came up with the ball and threw to Paul Hendrix who executed the relay throw home to perfection. Bacak was there to corral the throw and tag out the tying run for the final out of the inning.
From there, Young slammed the door to get the Frogs the victory. Trevor Seidenberger allowed three runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings of work. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out two in the no-decision.
TCU improves to 9-11 overall. League play continues this weekend as the Frogs hit the road for their first-ever road conference series. The three-game set at Oklahoma is set to begin Friday. Preston Morrison will take the mound for the Horned Frogs in search of his fourth win of the season.
