BB: UNLV Avoids Sweep, Shuts Out TCU 11-0

April 1, 2012
TCU Athletics

FORT WORTH, Texas - The UNLV Rebels avoided the sweep with an 11-0 victory over TCU Sunday afternoon at Lupton Stadium. Jantzen Witte and Kyle Von Tungeln were the lone Horned Frogs to tally hits in the game.

Nick Frey (0-1) allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits with a walk and a strikeout in 4 2/3 innings. Justin Scharf was touched for four runs on six hits in 1 1/3 innings. Trey Teakell got the final out of the fifth inning. Kevin Allen surrendered an unearned run on two hits in 1/3 of an inning. Brandon Finnegan pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings and Chris Murphy gave up a run on four hits in an inning of work.

UNLV jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. Casey Sato delivered the two-run single with two outs in the inning to give the Rebels the lead.

TCU looked poised to get right back in the contest in the bottom of the first as it loaded the bases with only one out. Josh Elander drew a lead-off walk and moved to second when Jason Coats was hit by the pitch. Witte lined a single to center field to load the bases. Rebel starter Erick Fedde got a big strike out for the second out, then got Jerrick Suiter to line sharply to third to end the inning.

Two more Rebels crossed the plate in the second inning as UNLV built a 4-0 lead. Joey Swanner doubled with two outs to drive in a run then scored on an error in the infield.

Fedde settled down after the shaky start in the first and never allowed more than four Horned Frogs to hit in each of the next six innings. TCU had a base runner in four of the six innings, but only got him to third once and that came in the fifth inning with two outs.

Meanwhile, the Rebels continued to tack on runs, putting the game further out of reach. Another two-out run crossed the plate in the fifth inning on an RBI single from Trent Cook. A five-run explosion in the seventh for UNLV doubled the lead to 10-0. The big blow was a two-out Swanner double to right field.

Trailing by just five in the sixth inning, the Horned Frogs' defense looked like it might give the offense some momentum as Von Tungeln gunned down a runner trying to score from second. Erik VanMeetren was standing on second when Mark Shannon singled to center. Von Tungeln came up throwing and unleashed a strike to Elander, who was there to put the tag on VanMeetren for the second out of the inning.

TCU falls to 14-11 overall and 6-3 in league play. The Frogs will take a break from conference play this week as they host Dallas Baptist Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. and UNC Wilmington this weekend beginning Thursday night.