The No. 1 TCU baseball team extended its winning streak to seven games with a 5-0 win over Texas Pan American at Lupton Stadium Tuesday night.
The TCU pitching staff shined once again in the contest allowing six hits and striking out eight in the Frogs fifth shutout of the season.
Brian Howard (3-0) got the win for TCU pitching four shutout innings in his first career start. He allowed only two hits and struck out four.
While Howard got the win, TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle said he didn’t think Howard pitched his best.
“He was ok, he pitched up in the zone a bit and got a big help from some mistakes they (UTPA) made,” Schlossnagle said.”I think he’d tell you that was about a C+ outing from him.”
Senior Derek Odell led on the offensive side for TCU going 3-for-5 with two RBI’s. Odell had gone hitless in his previous 13 at-bats.
Senior second baseman Garrett Crain said it felt good to see Odell break out of his recent slump.
“He’s been putting better at-bats together, squaring balls up and sometimes he’s just been hitting it right at people, which is frustrating,” Crain said. “I know how he feels and it’s good to see him squaring balls up.”
Odell led off the scoring for TCU in the first inning. After his two-out single, freshman Evan Skoug followed with a single to put runners at first and third. Then Crain followed with an RBI single to put the Frogs up 1-0.
Parker Gallegos (1-2) was the tough luck loser for UTPA, allowing three runs in six innings of work.
After keeping the TCU bats quiet for a majority of the night, the Frogs finally got to the Bronc pitching staff in the seventh inning.
Senior center fielder Cody Jones led off the seventh with a double down the third base line. After Connor Wanhanen’s bunt single down the third base line, UTPA head coach Manny Mantrana went to his bullpen.
Odell greeted Bronc reliever Johnny Gonzales with a double to left field to extend the TCU lead to 2-0. Crain would tack on another run for the Frogs with an RBI ground out later in the inning to push the TCU lead to 3-0.
TCU would add two more runs in the eighth inning. A one-out double from Jones would set the Frogs up with runners at second and third. After an RBI groundout from Wanhanen, Odell would bookend the scoring with an RBI single to increase the Frog lead to 5-0.
UTPA (10-7) was shut out for the second time this season, but the Broncs had their opportunities to crack the scoreboard.
The Broncs threatened in the fourth inning following a lead-off double from senior Logan Landon. He was quickly erased on a fly ball double play by Jones in center field.
UTPA’s best chance came in the fifth inning after a lead-off double from senior second baseman Jesus Garcia. Garcia would then move to third on a balk by TCU freshman Ryan Burnett.
After a strikeout of third baseman Scott Mercer, Burnett walked the next hitter to put runners at the corners with only one out. But the freshman southpaw would retire the next two batters to wiggle out of the jam.
Senior Trey Teakell took over for Burnett in the sixth inning with runners on first and second with two outs. He retired four of the five batters he faced.
Sophomore Brian Trieglaff and junior Preston Guilory each pitched a scoreless inning to complete the shutout for TCU.
Teakell said the efficiency of TCU’s starting pitchers has helped the mindset of the relief pitchers on the staff.
“It’s great, it takes a lot of the pressure off the relievers because our number one job coming out of the bullpen is to throw strikes,” Teakell said. “We can do that a lot easier when we come in up 2, 3, 4 runs as opposed to being behind.”
TCU will start left-hander Tyler Alexander (0-1) at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow in game two of this midweek series.
Alexander was slated as Tuesday night’s starter before Schlossnagle made a last minute lineup change.
“The guys we threw today we really need to be available out of the bullpen this weekend, so we wanted to pitch them today so they could get an extra days rest,” Schlossnagle said.
