April 10, 2011
Final Stats
FORT WORTH, Texas - Steven Maxwell turned in a dominating performance Sunday afternoon as the TCU Horned Frogs defeated New Mexcio 6-2 to take the series victory. All six of TCU's runs came with two outs in the inning.
Maxwell improved to 5-0 on the season after allowing just two runs on nine hits. He fanned eight and didn't walk a batter in his first career complete game.
The Lobos took an early 1-0 lead in the game. Sam Wilson led off the third inning with a triple to right center. Maxwell got a big first out, but a ground ball off the bat of Alex Allbritton for the second out allowed Wilson to score the first run of the game.
After facing five batters in the third inning, Maxwell found a groove and never faced more than four batters in an inning. He struck out the side in the fourth and got a double play ball to end the fifth. The Lobos would tally a hit in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but Maxwell would leave the runner stranded to keep the Frogs in control. The only other blemish was a two-out home run from Luke Campbell with two outs in the ninth.
TCU finally strung together some hits in the fourth as it scratched across a pair of two-out runs to take a 2-1 lead. Taylor Featherston got the ball rolling with a one-out single. Josh Elander tied the game with a double to left field, scoring Featherston from first base. Aaron Schultz broke the tie with a line-drive single to left, putting the Frogs in front to stay.
Lobo starter Rudy Jaramillo got two quick outs in the fifth, but Jantzen Witte singled to start another rally. A wild pitch was huge as it moved Witte to second and he was able to score on a Featherston base hit to right to give the Frogs a 3-1 lead.
An error kept the inning alive in the sixth as Jerome Pena reached base for the second time in the game. Zac Jordan executed a perfect hit-and-run, moving Pena to third. The duo provided excitement as they attempted a double steal. Pena beat the throw home and slid in safely to make it a 4-1 contest.
Two more runs crossed the plate in the seventh to give the Frogs a five-run cushion. With Featherston standing on second, Jason Coats doubled to left center to drive in a run and he scored on a base knock from Elander.
With the victory, TCU improves to 22-10 on the season and 7-2 in league play. The Frogs will hit the road for five straight beginning Tuesday night at nationally-ranked Oklahoma. Game time in Norman is set for 6:30 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
Postgame Quotes:
TCU Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
On Steven Maxwell's performance:
"I thought he was great. It was much needed after playing five games last week and then a big week upcoming with Oklahoma and San Diego State, who has been playing really well. We don't normally let a guy go over 105 to 115 pitches but I felt like today he still had good stuff and since we protect our guys during the year it allows us to let guys go longer on days like this."
On where his club is right now:
"I think we are playing with confidence which is good. We have different guys giving us something different every day. Our pitching is in a better place now than it was a couple weeks ago; we have guys like Nick Frey, we know what Stefan Crichton and Andrew Mitchell can do, we are seeing some bright signs out of Tony Rizzotti and then we still have our big three. We are feeling good about things, but you still have to go play."
TCU Pitcher Steven Maxwell
On his complete game performance:
"We have had a long week and needed to save some arms for next week. I wanted to go out there and give our team eight or nine innings if I could; I felt good, told Coach Schlossnagle I felt good and I wanted to stay in; it worked out for us."
TCU Infielder Taylor Featherston
On how the offense is performing lately:
"I think we are trying to not do it by ourselves. The solo home runs aren't going to do it, it has to be each guy one through nine; the singles, the doubles, the hit-by-pitch's, that is more our brand of baseball and I feel this week we showed that. The big innings will come, but we just try and scratch a run or two every inning and just trust the guy next to you."
Game Notes:
• TCU finished its season-long 13-game homestand with a 10-3 record.
• Every batter in the lineup tallied a hit today.
• Jason Coats extended his season-long hit streak to 12 games. He finished the afternoon 1-for-4.
• Jantzen Witte stretched his hitting streak to nine games with his 1-for-5 day at the plate.
• The series attendance was 13,885, making it the third-highest attended series in stadium history.
• Steven Maxwell improved to 21-4 in his career at TCU.
• TCU stole five bases in the game, including two by both Jerome Pena and Brance Rivera.
