TCU Gets First Loss in Regional Play

FORT WORTH–Dallas Baptist center fielder Landon Anderson broke a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning with an RBI single, and starting pitcher Jared Stafford threw eight-plus solid innings to help the Patriots hand TCU a 3-2 loss in Game 4 of the NCAA Fort Regional Saturday night at Lupton Stadium.

Dallas Baptist (41-17), the bracket’s No. 3 seed, remained perfect in regional play to advance to the championship game. The Patriots, who need only one more victory to advance to Super Regional play for the first time in program history, will face the winner of Saturday’s 2 p.m. matchup between top seed TCU (43-18) and No. 4 Oral Roberts in the second half of the day’s doubleheader at 7 p.m.

TCU or Oral Roberts will need two wins against DBU to move on, with the second game scheduled to be played at 7 p.m. Monday if necessary.

The Patriots earned their third victory in as many tries this season against the Horned Frogs. Stafford was a big reason why, as he pitched 8 1/3 innings of three-hit baseball. He allowed only two runs and two walks on 101 pitches.

DBU reliever Chris Haney took over for Stafford with one out in the ninth, stranding the

tying run at third in the form of TCU third baseman Jantzen Witte, who reached base safely to lead off the inning on a fielding error by Patriot shortstop Joel Hutter. Haney was able to strike out Frog catcher Josh Elander on three pitches to end the game.

TCU starter Matt Purke also was strong on the mound, limiting DBU to only a pair of runs on two hits through five innings. Reliever Trent Appleby took the loss, allowing only the go-ahead run in his three innings of work.

Hutter collected two of DBU’s five hits on the night, going 2-for-3 with a double, while first baseman Ryan Behmanesh, right fielder Jason Krizan and Anderson accounted for one hit each. First baseman Joe Weik, Elander and shortstop Taylor Featherston combined to record TCU’s three base hits.

The Frogs had just tied the game at 2-2 an inning earlier on an RBI double by Featherston in the top of the fifth before Hutter strolled to the plate in the bottom of the sixth. The Davenport, Iowa, native laced a double to right field to lead off the frame, then Anderson followed with his run-scoring single up the middle that put DBU on top for good.

Dallas Baptist opened the contest by scoring single runs in both the first and third innings to take an early 2-0 advantage. Behmanesh reached on a single to center in the Patriots’ second at-bat of the game and later scored after two wild pitches by Purke. The second wild pitch saw Behmanesh take two bases while reaching home plate as Elander was unable to find the ball.

Krizan, a semifinalist for the 2011 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award, produced the Patriots’ second run in the third inning, driving home designated hitter K.J. Alexander on a two-out double to left center. Alexander opened the frame by drawing a walk, one of only three given up by Frog pitching on the night.

TCU evened the score in the top of the fifth. Elander led off the inning with the single, then came around with the Frogs’ first run on an RBI double by Featherston, who tied the game two batters later on an RBI groundout by designated hitter Brett Johnson.

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