Feb. 18, 2011
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FORT WORTH, Texas - In front of a school-record 6,099 fans, the No. 1 TCU baseball team handed Kansas an 8-2 defeat Friday night in the 2011 season opener. The Horned Frogs built a 5-0 lead in the first and never looked back en route to the victory.
Jimmie Pharr went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in the contest.
Matt Purke (1-0) tossed four innings of shutout ball. He struck out three, walked one and allowed one hit. Andrew Mitchell surrendered a run on two hits in his collegiate debut. The true freshman struck out four in two innings of work. Tyler Duffie earned his first career save with a three-inning stint. The red-shirt freshman gave up a run on a pair of hits, walked one and struck out two.
Along with Pharr's three hits, Aaron Schultz and Brance Rivera each tallied two, while Taylor Featherston and Jantzen Witte each collected one.
Four walks and an error led to a five-run outburst for the Frogs in the first inning as they sent nine men to the plate. Kyle Von Tungeln drew a lead-off walk and moved to second on a wild pitch. With one out, the Frogs worked three straight walks to take the early 1-0 lead. Featherston collected his first RBI of the season with a bases-loaded walk. Jantzen Witte followed with an infield single. The throw to first base sailed into right field and cleared the bases, giving TCU a 4-0 lead. Pharr drove in another run with a hit to left to cap the Frog scoring.
Purke worked around a lead-off error in the second, getting a line drive double play off the bat of Chris Manship. A two-out walk in the third went by the wayside as Pharr picked the runner off at first to end the inning.
TCU put up a three spot in the third inning to extend its lead to 8-0. Featherston was hit by the pitch to open the inning. Featherston stole second and scored on a double down the left field line. Schultz tripled home Pharr and scored on a Rivera base hit.
A triple off the bat of Jake Marasco turned into the Jayhawks first run of the game as he scored on a wild pitch to make it an 8-1 contest in the fifth inning.
Jimmy Waters doubled to open the seventh and scored on an Alex DeLeon safety squeeze to account for the final score.
TCU improves to 1-0 on the season. Game two of the series is set for Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Kyle Winkler toes the rubber for the Horned Frogs on Saturday and will face Kansas' Wally Marciel.
Quotes:
Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
On Matt Purke leaving the game after the 4th inning:
"He didn't throw all summer, he didn't throw all fall. We knew he wasn't going to go much over 70 pitches and I didn't want to have to take him out in the middle of the inning. With the lead we had we knew we would be bringing in some freshmen later in the game and we felt it would be best to give Mitchell (Andrew) a clean inning to start. In the end, we didn't want Matt (Purke) to labor any."
On Purke's repertoire today:
"We want him to be a legit three pitch guy so they can put the ball in play more and reduce his pitch count. Strikeout pitcher's have a tendency to have higher pitch counts because a lot of hitters can't put the ball in play against them. With his change-up working and his fastball working more over the middle of the plate to get some early swings that will hopefully help us over the course of the season."
Pitcher Matt Purke
On his first outing:
*It was good. I was able to work on some things. We had some long innings where I had to sit a little bit, but I got used to that and we did a good job on both sides. I was just trying to get as many guys out as quickly as possible."
Catcher Jimmie Pharr
On the crowd noise/environment:
"This was the loudest it's been during a non postseason game. It was awesome, we had great fans out here and it was pretty cool to see. I think if we continue to win the crowds will keep coming, at least I sure hope so."
Game Notes:
* TCU improves to 6-2 in openers under head coach Jim Schlossnagle.
* Taylor Featherston had a four-game hit streak to end the 2010 campaign. He extended the streak to five with a base hit in the fourth.
* Jimmie Pharr made his first start behind the plate since March 28, 2010.
* TCU's record-breaking crowd of 6,099 fans breaks the old mark of 4,375 set when Texas A&M visited on April 13, 2010.
* Matt Purke picked up the 17th win of his career. He is now 17-0 in his TCU career. TCU is 19-2 in games he starts during his career.
