Thursday, March 6, 2008

College baseball: TCU 4, Texas State 3

By Pegasus News wire

Tuesday night repeated itself as the TCU Horned Frogs gave up a ninth-inning lead, but a Brett Medlin bases loaded single gave the Frogs a 4-3 victory in 11 innings over Texas State Wednesday night at Lupton Stadium. The Bobcats tied the game at three in the bottom of the ninth, but never got anything going in extra innings as Eric Marshall slammed the door to earn his first collegiate victory.

With one out in the bottom of the 11th, Ben Carruthers laced the ball to deep left center and raced all the way to third for a stand-up triple. Playing the odds, the Bobcats elected to issue intentional walks to both Matt Vern and Matt Carpenter to load the bases with one out. Medlin delivered with a sharp single to left field to plate Carruthers with the winning run.

The extra innings were necessary as the Bobcats battled to tie the game at three in the top of the ninth. Aaron Fuller collected a pinch-hit one-out single and moved to second on a Thomas Field infield single. After a groundout put both runners in scoring position, Paul Goldschmidt walked to load the bases. TCU relief pitcher Andrew Cashner unleashed a wild pitch, allowing the tying run to score from third. Cashner limited the damage as he got Adam Witek to ground out to end the inning.

TCU saw two golden opportunities to win the game late go by the wayside thanks in part to aggressive play on the bases. In the ninth, the Frogs had two on with one out, but the Bobcats were able to get out of the jam with a double play. In the tenth, Medlin drew a lead-off walk and moved to second on a Bryan Holaday sacrifice. Lance Loftin threw a wild pitch while trying to intentionally walk Bryan Kervin to put Medlin on third, but miscommunication by the Frogs led to Medlin being erased on the base paths.

Marshall (1-0) worked around a two-out walk in the top of the 11th to set up Medlin's heroics in the bottom of the frame. In total, Marshall worked two scoreless innings, allowing just a walk and tallying a strikeout.

The Bobcats cracked the scoreboard first on a two-out two-run single off the bat of Ben Theriot. Following the rocky first inning, TCU starter Paul Gerrish settled in, working a perfect second and pitching around a lead-off single in the third inning. Trent Appleby came on in the fourth with two on and two out and got Field to ground out to end the inning.

A run in the fifth inning started the Frogs on the comeback trail as the cut the Bobcat lead in half. With two outs, the Frogs strung together three straight hits to make it a 2-1 ballgame. Hunt Woodruff got the rally started and moved to third on a Holaday single. Bryan Kervin put the Frogs on the board with a sharp single to left field.

TCU tied the game in the bottom of the sixth. Clint Arnold doubled to lead off the frame and moved to third on a Carruthers sacrifice bunt. Aaron Taylor, on in relief of Bobcat starter Kane Holbrooks, tossed a wild pitched that allowed Arnold to score from third.

A seventh inning tally put the Frogs in front as they were helped along by a throwing error by the shortstop. Holaday worked a one-out walk and moved to third on the throwing error. Steve Ellington laid down a perfect safety bunt to score Holaday from third.

The Frogs (5-4) will return to the diamond Friday night when they host #2 Mississippi in the opener of a three-game series. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Lupton Stadium. Seth Garrison will take the mound in search of his first win of the season.

Game Notes:

• TCU improves to 10-5 in extra inning games under Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle.

• Ben Carruthers and Bryan Holaday extended their hit streaks to five games each.

• Eric Givens tallied his first career hit, a bunt single in the eighth inning.

• TCU has now won 71 straight games when leading after eight innings.

Source: TCU

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