April 23, 2011
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FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU Horned Frogs completed their second straight conference sweep, handing UNLV a 2-1 loss Saturday afternoon at Lupton Stadium. The victory stretches the Frogs winning streak to seven straight.
Steven Maxwell allowed a run on six hits in five innings of work. The senior walked two and struck out six in the no-decision. Trent Appleby (3-1) earned the win in relief as he worked 2 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits, two walks and striking out two. Stefan Crichton allowed a hit in 1 1/3 innings and struck out one to tally his third save of the season.
A lead-off walk in the first inning turned into a 1-0 lead for UNLV. After walking, Trevor Kirk stole second before scoring on a two-out double off the bat of Brandon Bayardi.
TCU saw an early chance to tie the game in the third go by the wayside as Rebel starter Max Javate worked out of the two on, two out jam. Joe Weik singled with one out and Jantzen Witte worked a two-out walk. The center fielder snared a sinking line drive off the bat of Taylor Featherston to preserve the Rebels lead.
The Frogs finally pushed across the tying run in the fifth as Javate struggled with his command. With one out, Javate plunked three straight batters to load the bases. Witte was robbed of extra bases on another great catch by Kirk in center field, but it was deep enough to allow Schultz to race home with the tying run.
TCU went to the bullpen and Bayardi greeted Appleby with a double to open the sixth inning. A ground out moved Bayardi to third with only one out. Appleby found his strike out pitch as he got Casey Sato and Travis Feiner to strike out, stranding the go-ahead run at third.
In the bottom of the frame, Jason Coats worked a walk to open the inning. An errant pick-off throw allowed Coats to get to third with nobody out. Jerome Pena delivered as he hit a sacrifice fly to center field to put the Frogs up 2-1.
UNLV fought hard in its quest to tie the game, but each time Frog pitchers were able to get out of the jams. In the seventh, Appleby issued a lead-off walk, but got Kirk to bounce into the inning-ending double play.
A walk and a single with two outs in the eighth were left stranded as Crichton induced a fly out off the bat of Sato to end the inning. He pitched around a lead-off single in the ninth to lock up the TCU victory.
TCU improves to 29-11 overall and 13-2 in league play. The Frogs will begin a busy week Monday night at Dallas Baptist. First pitch for the game is set for 6:30 p.m. at Patriot Field.
TCU Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle
On the offense today:
"When we were going through our struggles in the first half of the season, I was pulling my hair just like everyone else was and Buck Showalter sent me a text message that said `in the game of baseball if you are doing the right things with the pure of heart, this game will always allow you to come off the deck'. I do think if you keep doing the right things and playing hard you are going to win some games that others would think you should have lost."
TCU Third Baseman Jantzen Witte
On the game:
"It always feels good to get a win at the end of the day, and at the beginning of the year this one would have turned out to be a loss for us. This was a good win and ending for a good weekend."
TCU Pitcher Stefan Crichton
On today's game:
"With the wind like it is today, it is one of those days where you have to go out there and just throw strikes, because even if they hit the ball hard the wind will knock the ball down for you."
"I go up there with the same mentality every time and that is to go up there and throw strikes. Today I was able to throw strikes and keep it in the back of my mind that the ball will not go as far with the wind."
Game Notes:
• Jason Coats saw his 19 game hitting streak come to an end, as well as his nine game RBI streak.
• Taylor Featherston's 10 game hitting streak was stopped.
• TCU has won eighth straight league games dating back to an April 8 loss to New Mexico.
• TCU improved to 14-2 in the month of April.
• The Frogs improved to 2-7 in one-run ballgames. TCU played in just its second one-run game since defeating Air Force 3-2 on April 2.
