TCU baseball wins
FORT WORTH, Texas – The TCU Horned Frogs put together a complete game to earn the series win with a 6-1 victory over Houston Baptist Sunday afternoon at Lupton Stadium. Steven Maxwell tossed seven innings for the win and Jerome Pena drove in two to lead the offense.
After giving up five hits in the first three innings, Maxwell (1-0) settled into a groove to pick up his first win of the season. He surrendered one run on five hits, walked one and struck out seven in seven innings of work. Tony Rizzotti gave up a hit, two walks and struck out one in one-plus innings of work. Erik Miller shut the door in the ninth, retiring the lone batter he faced for his fourth save of the season.
For the first time this weekend, the Frogs jumped out to an early lead. Brance Rivera led off the first with a walk and stole second. A miscue by the second baseman allowed Rivera to score, giving the Frogs a 1-0 lead.
Houston Baptist battled back to tie the game in the top of the second, picking up a run on two hits. Kolby Arnst led off the inning with a base hit. Two wild pitches had Arnst standing on third and he scored on a base hit off the bat of Garrett Tully.
TCU would get the run right back in the bottom of the inning. Zac Jordan singled with
one out and moved to second when Joe Weik was hit by the pitch. A balk moved both runners up 90 feet and Davy Wright put the Frogs on top with a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-1 contest.
In the third inning, the Huskies looked poise to get back in the game as the first two batters reached on base hits. Jantzen Witte snared a line drive and turned it into a double play and Josh Elander ended the inning, gunning out Collin Hetzler trying to steal second to end the inning.
TCU would cling to the one-run lead until it broke through with a furious two-out rally in the fifth. Taylor Featherston started the push with a base hit through the left side. An error kept the inning alive and Pena made it hurt as he line a double down the left field line to drive in a pair of runs and give the Frogs a 4-1 lead. Elander followed with another double to push the lead to 5-1.
Following the third inning, Maxwell sat down 12 of the next 13 batters he faced to get the game into the eighth inning before giving way to the bullpen.
TCU added an insurance run in the eighth inning with another two out rally. Davy Wright dumped a single into centerfield with two outs. Pinch runner Kyle Von Tungeln went first-to-third on a base hit by Rivera then raced home on a wild pitch to make it a 6-1 ballgame.
After pitching a scoreless eighth inning, Rizzotti ran into trouble in the ninth as the Huskies loaded the bases with nobody out. Elander erased the runner at third with a back-pick and Miller induced a game-ending double play ball off the bat of Arnst to preserve the victory.
The Frogs improve to 10-5 on the season. TCU hits the road for four straight beginning Tuesday night in Arlington. The Frogs will wrap up their season series with UT Arlington at Clay Gould Ballpark. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
