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BB: TCU Bruises Baylor 9-4

Mar. 6, 2012
TCU Athletic Dept

FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU Horned Frogs rallied from a late-inning deficit to record a 9-4 victory over Baylor Tuesday night to stretch their winning streak to three. The game saw an NCAA-record 13 combined hit batters and 11 combined walks. Lost in all the free passes was Jason Coats' 60th career double, giving him the school record.

Trailing 4-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Frogs put a six-spot on the board to take a commanding 9-4 lead. With one out in the frame, the Baylor pitching staff issued four straight walks to the bottom of the order, tying the game at four. Coats came through with a two-out single to right that broke the tie and gave the Frogs a 6-4 lead. Back-to-back hit batters put the Frogs up 7-4 and reloaded the bases for Jerrick Suiter. He delivered another two-run single to give the Frogs some breathing room, 9-4.

Baylor took the early 1-0 lead in the third inning, scoring without the benefit of a hit. Logan Brown drew a one out walk and gave the Bears the lead as Brandon Finnegan hit three straight batters with two outs. He left the bases loaded, getting Logan Vick to ground out to end the inning.

TCU rallied back in the bottom of the frame, taking a 2-1 lead on a pair of hits and a costly error. Derek Odell led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a Coats single. Braden Mattson hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game and an error on a ball hit by Suiter put the Frogs on top.

The game stayed 2-1 through the middle frames, but came alive in the seventh inning. The Bears turned the momentum with a three-run inning to take a 4-2 lead. After Nathan Orf was hit by the pitch to open the frame, Cal Towey came up with the Bears first hit of the game to put two on with nobody. An RBI-ground out from Josh Ludy tied the game at two and a double from Vick gave the Bears the 3-2 lead. An error made it 4-2.

A double from Mattson in the bottom of the inning cut the lead in half as he drove in Keaton Jones to make it a 4-3 contest.

Baylor threatened to add more runs to its lead in the eighth with two in scoring position and only one out. Kevin Allen (1-0) worked out of the jam, getting back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning, setting up the Frogs' six-run eighth inning.

Finnegan allowed a run in his 4 2/3 innings of work. He didn't allow a base hit, but walked one and hit six batters. Nick Frey allowed a pair of runs on one hit, he walked one and hit two batters in 1 1/3 innings. Justin Scharf allowed an unearned run on a hit in 2/3 of an inning. Allen picked up the win, limiting the Bears to just one hit and striking out three. Kaleb Merck retired all three batters he faced, two via the strikeout, in the ninth.

TCU improves to 5-6 with the victory. The Frogs will wrap up an eight-game homestand beginning Friday night when they host Texas Tech. First pitch Friday night is set for 6:30 p.m.