TCU opened its nine-game homestand against the University of Texas-Pan American with a 9-5 win Tuesday night.
TCU improved to 12-16 overall as UTPA dropped to 9-11. The Frogs improved their home record to 6-8, breaking their three-game losing streak in Lupton Stadium.
From the mound, right-handed starter Trey Teakell earned a career high of seven innings pitched in a game, while both Paul Hendrix and Boomer White extended their hitting streaks to seven games.
The Frogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Cody Jones had a leadoff walk and moved to second on a White groundout. Following a Jantzen Witte pop out third and a Hendrix walk, Derek Odell singled to right center, scoring Jones.
UTPA was on the board in the fourth inning. Jacob Huckabay led off the inning with a triple to left field and Bryan Ramirez followed with a single to left field, scoring Huckabay to tie the game 1-1.
TCU answered in the bottom of the inning with three runs. Kevin Cron singled to left field then Keaton Jones walked to put two on with one out. Kyle Bacak singled to right field and loaded the bases. White doubled down the third baseline, scoring Cron and Jones for the 4-1 lead.
The Frogs continued to be produce runs in the next two innings. In the fifth inning, Odell singled through the right side. Cron followed with a doubled to left field, moving Odell to third. Odell scored on a sacrifice fly by Jerrick Suiter for the 5-1 lead.
In the sixth, TCU scored its most runs in an inning with four. Bacak singled to left field. Then, Cody Jones reached on a fielder's choice. White followed with a walk to load the bases. Hendrix singled through the right side, scoring Jones and Bacak.
Then, Hendrix stole second base. UTPA right-hander Guadalupe Barrera balked on the mound, allowing Hendrix to reach third base and White to score. Odell flied out to centerfield, scoring Hendrix to make the game 9-4.
TCU silenced UTPA for three innings until the Broncs came back with four runs in the eighth inning. The Broncs shortened the lead to 9-5.
Head coach Jim Schlossnagle said the team has been trying to be more competitive during at-bats. He said the biggest issue is that some players do not relax, forcing them to tense up when "the pressure should be on the defense of the other team."
He said he hopes the first Big 12 series win at Texas Tech and the win against UTPA will help the team.
TCU now stands 18-0 against UTPA in the Schlossnagle era.
“Baseball is built that way sometimes,” Schlossnagle said. ”The more often we play them, the more opportunity for that to change. Hopefully, it won’t change tomorrow night.”
TCU will continue its mid-week series against UTPA Wednesday. Trevor Seidenberger will be on the mound for TCU and Colby McCasland for UTPA. First pitch is 6:30 p.m.
