The TCU baseball team beat UNC-Wilmington 4-0 Friday night at Lupton Stadium, evening the weekend series at 1-1 after losing to the Seahawks 7-5 Thursday night. Here are a few notes from the Horned Frogs' (15-13) win:
Mitchell shines
TCU finally got the starting pitching it’s been looking for.
Andrew Mitchell threw 6.2 scoreless innings, giving up just three hits and striking out 10 batters. Mitchell’s fastball was consistently in the low-90s, topping out at 94.
The sophomore got into a bit of a jam in the fifth inning when he walked leadoff batter Drew Farber then threw a wild pitch that allowed Farber to advance to second. The next batter, Jake Koenig, grounded out to Mitchell and the batter after that was intentionally walked, placing runners on the corners with one out.
Mitchell found his way out, though, getting Michael Bass to pop out to second base and striking out Josh Abshire to end the inning.
Bringing them to the top
Schlossnagle moved catcher Josh Elander and third baseman Jantzen Witte to the top of the lineup Friday. Elander batted leadoff for the third time this year while Witte, who normally bats fifth, batted second.
The move paid off in the third inning.
Elander singled to left and Witte followed with a walk, putting pressure on UNC-W starter Mat Batts. Jason Coats grounded into a fielder’s choice that would retire Witte at second, but Elander advanced to third and scored when Jerrick Suiter singled to centerfield during the next at-bat to give the Frogs a 1-0 lead.
Catch of the night
As good as the Frogs pitching was, their defense might have been equally impressive, the biggest play of the night coming from right-fielder Brance Rivera.
With two outs in the eighth, UNC-W’s Matt Campbell skied one to the gap in right-center field. The ball looked to be a sure double before Rivera came out of nowhere and caught. To cover that amount of ground was impressive enough — fully extending and catching it on the dive made it even better.
Late arrival for the offense
Through seven innings, the TCU offense did just enough to get by, collecting six hits and scoring a run to take a 1-0 lead.
In the eighth, the Frogs’ bats woke up.
Witte singled then came around to score off of a wild pitch by UNC-W’s Jack Lane. Then, Suiter singled home Coats before Braden Mattson hit a two-out double to left field that scored Suiter and gave TCU a 4-0 lead.
Suiter and Mattson both lead TCU with two hits each.
Looking ahead
The Frogs and Seahawks close out the series Saturday afternoon. First pitch is set for 2:00 p.m.
Schlossnagle was unsure Friday night who'd get the start on the mound Saturday, but he did say right-hander Preson Morrison is a possibility. Morrison (3-0) has a 1.18 ERA in 38.0 innings of relief this year.
Schlossnagle also said he'd likely stick with Friday night's lineup, which, in addition to featuring Elander and Witte at the top, also had Suiter batting cleanup.
