Baseball Wins 6-4 Over South Florida to Move Into First Place Tie in C-USA

Baseball Wins 6-4 Over South Florida to Move Into First Place Tie in C-USA
Horned Frogs race to 6-0 lead, hold on for win in series opener

	Clayton Jerome moved to 4-0 in C-USA play with Friday's win over South Florida

April 5, 2002

Box Score

TAMPA, Fla. - TCU jumped out to an early 6-0 lead then withstood a late rally by South Florida to defeat the Bulls 6-4 Friday night at Red McEwen Field in Tampa. The win, coupled with Houston's 5-4 loss at East Carolina, moved TCU (16-16, 7-3 Conference USA) into a tie with Houston, Louisville and Southern Miss atop the C-USA standings.

TCU opened the scoring with three runs on four hits in the second inning. Will Lewis ' (Texarkana, Ark./Texarkana/Seminole J.C.) two-run triple down the right field line was the big hit as the Frogs took a 3-0 lead.

The Frogs added a pair of runs in the third and another in the fourth to up their advantage to 6-0. Jake Duncan (Marshall, Texas/Marshall/U. of Texas) and Mike Settle (Fort Worth, Texas/Country Day) collected the RBI in the third with a sacrifice fly and single, respectively, while Chris Meeks (Brownwood, Texas/Brownwood/Eastfield J.C.) beat out an infield single to drive in Lewis in the fourth.

South Florida (18-12, 6-4 C-USA) put a run on the board in the fifth to cut its deficit to 6-1. TCU quelled USF's chance to cut into the lead even more by throwing out the Bulls' Kris Courier at third base on a Chris Cuccia single to right field, then nailing Cuccia as he tried to advance to second.

The Bulls made it interesting in the bottom of the seventh, plating three runs to close within 6-4. The three runs were all unearned, but knocked TCU starter Clayton Jerome (Mesquite, Texas/Poteet) out of the game nonetheless. In all, the sophomore threw 6.2 innings and allowed four runs (one earned) on eight hits to up his record to 5-2 for the season.

From there, TCU reliever Ryan Weems (Roswell, N.M./Goddard/New Mexico State) slammed the door to preserve the victory. The junior southpaw gave up just two hits in 2.1 scoreless innings to earn his first career save.

TCU will look to capture game two of the three-game series Saturday afternoon when they face the Bulls again at Red McEwen Field. First pitch is set for noon (CST).

GAME NOTES
Right fielder Terry Trofholz (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior/Creighton) extended his hitting streak to five games with a bunt single in the third ... Trofholz has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games overall ... TCU's turned its C-USA leading 39th double play of the season in the fifth inning ... Jerome is a perfect 4-0 in C-USA action ... the Horned Frogs are 4-0 on the road in conference play, while sporting just a 3-3 record at home.