TCU Wins Against UNC Wilmington

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FORT WORTH, Texas – Andrew Mitchell held UNC Wilmington in check for 6 2/3 innings and the defense turned two double plays to help TCU even the series with a 4-0 victory Friday night. Jerrick Suiter drove in two runs to lead the Horned Frog offense.

Mitchell (3-2) fanned 10 batters in 6 2/3 innings. He allowed just three hits and walked three in the victory. Brandon Finnegan retired the only batter he faced in the seventh and Kaleb Merck worked two scoreless innings for his fifth save of the year. Merck gave up one hit and struck out a career-high four batters.

UNC Wilmington threatened to take an early lead in the second inning after Hunter Ridge led off the frame with a double. Mitchell got two big strikeouts then induced a fly ball off the bat of Corey Dick to end the inning.

For the second straight inning the Seahawks got the lead-off man on and he stole second with one out. Derek Odell snared a line drive and doubled off the runner to end the third inning.

TCU turned the momentum into a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the inning. Josh Elander singled with one out and moved to second on a walk to Jantzen Witte. With two outs, Elander was standing on third and scored easily on a single off the bat of Suiter.

With the Frogs clinging to a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, the Seahawks looked poised to tie the game as they had runners on the corners with one out. Mitchell got Michael Bass to pop up to Odell, then struck out Josh Abshire to strand the tying run on third.

Again in the seventh inning, the Seahawks attempted to tie the game as they had

a runner on second with only one out. Mitchell got a sharp grounder to third for the second out, then gave way to Finnegan. The left-hander was able to get pinch hitter Thomas Pope to fly out to end the inning.

TCU broke the game open in the bottom of the eighth inning as it took advantage of a pair of Seahawk errors. Witte singled with one out to start the offense. A high throw by the pitcher to second on a fielder’s choice allowed Witte to be safe at second. The subsequent throw to first skipped to the fence and both Witte and Jason Coats advanced 90 feet with only one out. A wild pitch gave the Frogs a 2-0 lead and Suiter bounced a base hit through the drawn-in infield to pad the lead, 3-0. Braden Mattson delivered a two-out RBI double to push the lead to 4-0.

In the top of the ninth, Merck worked around a one-out infield single with a pair of strikeouts to lock up the victory for the Frogs.

TCU improves to 15-13 overall. The Frogs will try and get the series victory Saturday afternoon. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m.