Matt Purke tossed six scoreless innings to hand Texas Tech an 8-1 loss Sunday afternoon at Dan Law Field. Aaron Schultz, Jason Coats and Brance Rivera homered for the Frogs who completed their first sweep of the season.
Matt Purke (2-0) was perfect through 4 2/3 innings before surrendering a base hit to Stephen Hagen. In total, he tossed six scoreless innings, giving up one hit, walking one and striking out six.
Andrew Mitchell tossed two scoreless frames for the Frogs. He gave up a pair of hits, walked two and struck out one. Tyler Duffie surrendered the lone run as he issued three walks in 1/3 of an inning. Kyle Starratt collected the final two outs of the game.
TCU pushed across an unearned run in the first inning to take the early lead. Jantzen Witte got the ball rolling with a base hit to right. Taylor Featherston followed with a base hit and both runners moved up 90 feet on a miscue in left field. Coats made the error hurt as he delivered a sacrifice fly to put the Frogs up 1-0.
Purke and Texas Tech starter Jamen Parten went toe-to-toe through the next five innings as neither team could get their offense going.
TCU finally broke through in the seventh, extending its lead to 3-0. Jerome Pena singled to open the inning. He moved to second on a ground ball out and then advanced to third on wild pitch. Aaron Schultz connected on his first home run of the season, blasting a two-run shot over the left field fence.
The floodgates opened in the eighth inning as the Frogs struck for five runs on five hits. Coats started the rally with a solo home run to open the inning. Pena followed with a double and moved to third with one out. Schultz drove in his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly that made it a 5-0 contest.
Josh Elander kept the hit parade going with a base hit through the left side. Brett Johnson dumped a single into right and Brance Rivera battled through a nine-pitch at-bat before unloading for a three-run blast to left field. The blast put the Frogs firmly in control with an 8-0 lead.
Tech’s lone run of the contest came after it loaded the bases with three walks and only one out. Nick Popescu hit a sacrifice fly to left to break up the shutout.
Up next
The Horned Frogs improve to 7-4 on the season. TCU returns home Tuesday night to begin a four-game homestand. The Frogs will play host to UT Arlington. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Lupton Stadium.