TCU Takes Series Victory With 9-1 Win
FORT WORTH, Texas – A seven-run second inning propelled the TCU Horned Frogs to a 9-1 victory over Houston Sunday afternoon at Lupton Stadium. Aaron Schultz highlighted the inning with his second career grand slam. Steven Maxwell pitched six innings to improve to 3-0 on the season.
Steven Maxwell (3-0) allowed a run on three hits in six innings of work. He walked five and tied his career-high with 10 strikeouts in the game. Stefan Crichton tossed two scoreless innings. He allowed two hits and struck out three. Andrew Mitchell pitched a scoreless ninth inning, allowing a hit and striking out one.
TCU exploded for seven runs on four hits in the second inning to open up a big lead. The first nine batters reached in the frame and chased Cougar starter Codey Morehouse from the contest.
Jantzen Witte started the inning with a walk and moved to third on a base hit off the bat of Jerome Pena. Joe Weik gave the Frogs a 1-0 lead with a base knock. Zac Jordan followed with a two-run triple to make it a 3-0 contest. A walk to Jimmie Pharr followed by Brance Rivera getting hit by the pitch loaded the bases. Aaron Schultz cleared them with a grand slam to straight away center field for the 7-0 lead.
Maxwell kept the Cougars off balance for most of the game, pitching out of a
couple jams to hold them off the scoreboard. In the second, he pitched around a pair of walks to keep the game scoreless. He stranded two more baserunners in the third with a strikeout to end the frame.
The defense came up big for the Frogs in the fourth inning as the Cougars looked poised to push across a pair of runs. M.P. Cokinos doubled to lead off the inning, but Maxwell made a head’s up play on a ball hit right back to him, gunning out Cokinos at third for the first out of the inning. A two-out walk put two. Ryan Still drove a ball to straight away center field, but Schultz made a full out diving catch to end the inning and keep it a 7-0 contest.
In the fifth, the Cougars were finally able to push across a run to make it a 7-1 game. Back-to-back walks with two outs set the table for an RBI single off the bat of Cokinos. Another defensive gem in the outfield, this time by Rivera who made a shoestring catch on a sinking fly ball to end the inning, kept it a six-run TCU advantage.
The Frogs tacked on a pair of runs in the ninth to extend their lead to 9-1. Down to his last chance to extend his hitting streak, Rivera dumped a double into right field to open the inning. He moved to third on a ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Taylor Featherston. Coats unloaded for his fourth home run of the season to cap the Frogs’ run output.
TCU improves to 15-8 on the season. The Frogs will continue their homestand Tuesday night when they host Stephen F. Austin. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. Erik Miller will make his first start of the season for the Frogs.
