Bolstered by the ninth-largest home crowd in TCU history and a solid start from Seth Garrison, the Horned Frogs delivered a 3-2 victory over Baylor University in front of the Greek Week crowd.
The crowd was officially 2,346, just another crowded game in what has been a season full of them for the Horned Frogs. In TCU’s first series this season against Cal State Fullerton, the fifth and sixth largest crowds of all-time were recorded, and the 10th largest later came against Ole Miss.
“I thought it was a great crowd tonight,” left fielder Steve Ellington said. “It’s a lot better to win when you have those TCU fans out there cheering for you.”
Ben Carruthers scored the first run for the Frogs after opening the inning hit by a pitch from Baylor starter Mace Thurman’s arm. Bryan Holaday drove in the run for his 18th RBI of the year.
Garrison secured his first win of the year on a very strong outing, allowing three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts through nearly seven innings. Thurman lasted through three before being relieved by Craig Fritsch.
“[Garrison was] outstanding,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “You may be seeing him on the weekends before too long.”
The Bears first run came in the third as Baylor tied the game when second baseman Landis Ware beat the tag at home in the top of the third.
The Bears offense hibernated through the middle innings, allowing the Horned Frogs to retake the lead in the fifth as Holaday scored on a triple from Steve Ellington.
Baylor finally answered in the top of the eighth, knotting the game.
Pinch hitter Ben Booker launched a home run over the right field wall to tie the score at two, and Baylor put a man on first and second before Andrew Cashner relieved Eric Marshall.
Cashner walked the first batter he faced, loading the bases with two outs. Facing Baylor DH Jon Ringenberg, Cashner loaded the count, drawing cheers from the crowd before striking him out to emphatically end the half.
“I had no doubt he was going to throw a strike,” Schlossnagle said.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Matt Vern reached first after a passed ball reached the backstop. On the next play, Chris Ellington sent a double all the way to the warning track at dead-center field, scoring Vern and giving the Horned Frogs their game-winning run.
TCU will return to Lupton Stadium this weekend for a key series with Air Force, after facing Texas State today. The Horned Frogs are currently 2-4 in conference, only ranking ahead of Air Force in the Mountain West Conference.
“We were about as low as we could go [this weekend], came back [tonight] and played great,” Garrison said. “Hopefully we can go out and win tomorrow, then focus on Air Force. Every conference game is huge now.”
