The Frogs defeated the University of Kansas 7-1 in the second of a three game series.
Junior pitchers Kyle Winkler and Erik Miller combined for a one-hitter, allowing one unearned run. Together they struck out 11 Jayhawks.
A new series attendance record was set with 10,500 fans at the first two games of the series. Saturday’s game totaled 4,401 fans.
Right fielder junior Brance Rivera had three of TCU’s 11 hits. Seniors Jimmie Pharr and Jerome Pena each had two.
Winkler allowed no earned runs through seven innings of work. He had eight strikeouts and no walks. He was called on to bat in the bottom of the fifth, when Pharr replaced sophomore Josh Elander at catcher. Elander suffered an apparent injury while diving for a foul ball in the top of the fourth inning. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Winkler came to bat with men at the corners and laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to score junior Aaron Schultz.
TCU struck early in the first inning. Rivera, the leadoff hitter, started the game with a lead-off triple, one of his three hits on the day. He followed up with a double in the seventh and a single in the third. Rivera scored on a sacrifice fly from Pena, who totalled two RBIs. He scored third baseman sophomore Jantzen Witte in the bottom of the fifth on a RBI single. TCU was up 1-0 at the end of the first inning.
Kansas came back in the forth when sophomore second baseban Jordan Dreiling reached second base on a throwing error by junior Taylor Featherston. Dreiling then stole third base and scored on a single from KU senior Brandon Macias. Macias was immediately picked off at first by Winkler. This left the score tied 1-1 at the end of the fourth inning. However it would be the Jayhawks only run and hit of the afternoon.
TCU scored two runs in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings to put the game on ice. Winkler and Pena each had RBIs in the fifth. Witte and Rivera had RBIs in the seventh. In the eighth inning junior Zac Jordan hit a two run double, but was thrown out trying to turn in into a triple.
The Horned Frogs played small ball today, scoring 2 of their 7 runs on sacrifice bunts. Winkler had one in the fifth. Witte scored Schultz in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice bunt. They offense had two triples and three doubles. The ball stayed in the park due to strong winds blowing in from the outfield.
The Horned Frogs will go for the sweep tomorrow at 1 p.m. TCU will send senior Steven Maxwell to the mound. Kansas will start sophomore Tanner Poppe.