UTA Defeats TCU
FORT WORTH — UT Arlington survived a comeback bid by No. 5 TCU to down the Horned Frogs 4-3 on Wednesday night at Lupton Stadium.
The Mavericks, earning their 31st all-time win against a top-10 nationally ranked program – second of the season, improved to 17-13 for the year. TCU went to 22-6 overall as it had a five-game winning streak snapped. UTA picked up its first win against the Horned Frogs in three attempts in 2016, the Mavs were outscored 22-5 in the previous two losses.
“Jake (Wilcox) was great tonight, as was Moreland,” UT Arlington coach Darin Thomas said. “Those two guys threw really well against a really good offense. They handed it to us last week at our place, so this was a big win for us to be able to come over here and both hit and pitch it the way we did.”
Jake Wilcox was masterful in his five-inning start. The Sunnyvale, Texas native allowed just two hits and a walk, while striking out three and facing little pressure. Wilcox improved to 2-2 with the win.
Jacob Moreland, tying for sixth all-time with his 77th-career appearance, was
equally efficient in taming the TCU batters. Moreland’s lone blemish came on one of his few mistakes in the eighth off a three-run homer to left. The right-hander finished with four innings out of the pen, giving up four hits and three earned runs on the way to his first save in 2016.
UTA’s offense put pressure on TCU throughout as it had at least a runner every inning except the ninth.
The Mavs finished with 13 hits to TCU’s six and featured a hit from eight of the nine starters. Colton Turner led four Mavs who had two hits, Turner’s run in the seventh proved to be the winning run on a wild pitch. Darien McLemore, Quintin Rohrbaugh and Noah Vaughan each had multi-hit games.
After stranding runners in scoring position in each of the first two innings, UTA was finally able to break through in a big way in the third. Brady Cox knocked his first home run of the season, a three-run shot that carried the left-field fence.
UTA continued its trend of putting runners on base, but were unable to extend the lead until the seventh. Using three hits to put Darien McLemore on third, the senior rushed in on a wild pitch, edging out the toss from the catcher.
TCU attempted to continue its rally into the ninth with a one-out single that was lined into center. However, Moreland was able to induce a double play to close the game.
“We have all the respect in the world for TCU,” Thomas said. “We’re a physical offense, maybe not in the realm of home runs, but we have physical guys who can hit the ball. A couple of years ago we had a similar offense, and it helps when you can score. But pitching wins, and if we don’t get the start out of Wilcox like we did tonight, we don’t get this win.”
The Mavericks return home to begin an eight-game homestand on Friday that opens with a three-game series against ULM. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
