SAN MARCOS, TX – The No. 4 TCU Horned Frogs gained a non-conference victory over the No. 29 Texas State 10-5 at Bobcat Field Wednesday night.
The Frogs improve to 37-10 on the season. They will return to Fort Worth to host Air Force in their final Mountain West Conference series beginning Friday. The two teams need to complete a suspended game that will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday afternoon. The originally schedule series will begin immediately following the completion of the suspended game. The Frogs needs to win just one of the four games this weekend to clinch its fifth-straight regular season title.
Redshirt freshman Jantzen Witte put together a career-night at the plate as he tallied two hits and drove in five runs, while junior Trent Appleby (2-1) picked up the win in relief of senior Paul Gerrish, who allowed five runs (three earned) on seven hits.
At the plate, senior Matt Curry gave a solid performance by finishing the night 4-for-5 with a run scored and two RBIs. Sophomore Taylor Featherston, junior Jerome Pena and senior Bryan Holaday each notched two-hit nights as well. Sophomore Brance Rivera picked up two RBIs on the night.
The Bobcats put the Frogs in 2-0 hole in the bottom of the first inning. Bobcat player Kyle Livingstone doubled to lead off the frame and moved to third on a bunt single by Bret Atwood. A walk to Jason Martinson loaded the bases and Jeff McVaney gave Texas State a 2-0 lead with a double to left center. Gerrish limited the damage to the two runs as he retired the next three batters in the inning to keep the deficit at two.
Two errors and four hits translated to three runs for Texas State in the bottom of the inning as it cut the Frog lead to one, 6-5. Livingstone singled in the first run of the frame and was safe on an errant throw on a ground ball off the bat of Atwood.
The Frogs milked their lead through the sixth inning as Appleby kept the Bobcats off balance. He pitched around a leadoff single in the third and got an inning-ending double play to erase a one-out single in the fourth. He retired the side in order in the fifth.
Featherston was plunked by a one-out pitch to put two on with one out. Witte drove in his fifth run of the game with a perfectly executed hit and run. Rivera sacrifice home Featherston with the final run of the game.