The Horned Frogs defeated Abilene Christian Tuesday night for the fourth win of their past five games.
Three pitchers came in to relieve starting first-year pitcher Russell Smith: first-year Caleb Sloan, first-year Augie Mihlbauer and sophomore Cal Coughlin. The group held the Wildcats to just seven hits and eight baserunners.
This was the 13th time this season the pitching staff has allowed two or fewer runs. The Frogs also played error-free for the 14th game this season.
Smith pitched four-and-two-thirds innings, allowed five hits and threw four strikeouts. Sloan picked up the victory with three strikeouts and one hit in two-and-a-third innings of work.
The Frogs opened up their lead to two in the third inning. First-year second baseman Coby Boulware opened up the inning with a base hit. The bases were loaded two batters later. Following a walk to senior first baseman Connor Wanhanen, junior catcher Colton Parrish was hit by a pitch.
Junior left fielder Josh Watson hit a sacrifice fly into to open up the scoring and senior right fielder A.J. Balta followed with an RBI single to score Wanhanen and double their lead.
Junior center fielder Johnny Rizer lead-off the fourth with a double and traveled around the bases to score off a sacrifice fly from first-year third baseman Conner Shepherd.
A two-out rally in the sixth led to TCU’s final run of the game. First-year shortstop Adam Oviedo started the rally with a base hit and scored on an RBI single from Boulware to push their lead to 4-0.
The Wildcats threatened twice, but the Frogs had an answer for their attacks in the third and fifth innings.
The bases were loaded for Abilene Christian in the third inning but Smith recorded the much-needed strikeout to survive the scare. In the fifth inning, Smith saved himself from a first-and-third situation with no outs, getting a strikeout and a pop-out before Sloan recorded the third out of the inning.
The Horned Frogs allowed only two Wildcats to reach third base on the night.
The Horned Frogs improve to 23-18 on the season with the victory. Up next, TCU will welcome Dallas Baptist to Lupton Stadium Wednesday evening for a 6:30 p.m. contest.
