June 25, 2010

Game 11 Notes

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TCU forces Saturday game against UCLA

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

OMAHA, Neb. – Maybe ground balls are more democratic, as Crash Davis professed.

Freshman left-hander Matt Purke (right) pitched 6.1 solid innings as TCU topped sixth-seeded UCLA 6-2 Friday afternoon in Game 11 of the 2010 College World Series in front of 22,334 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium.

The teams will meet again on Saturday to determine one of the participants in the CWS Championship Series. Game time has not yet been determined.

Purke (16-0) allowed three hits and two earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts.

“I thought Matt did a good job of making pitches when he needed to,” said TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle. “His fastball was really sinking. Normally he’s a strikeout guy, and today he was getting a lot of ground balls and we made the plays behind him.”

Purke rolled 14 ground-ball outs among the 19 outs he recorded, and a leadoff hitter did not reach until the seventh.

“They really rely on getting the first guy on and being able to do stuff, hit and run, bunt, things like that, put pressure on you. You really have to focus on getting the first guy out and then keep going from there.”

The Frogs got on the board in the bottom of the first as Bryan Holaday and Jason Coats had back-to-back one-out hits. Jantzen Witte walked to load the bases and Taylor Featherston drew a base on balls to bring home Holaday with the first run.

TCU added a run in the second as Aaron Schultz ripped a leadoff double and scored on a base hit by Jerome Pena.

In the fourth, Pena lined a one-out homer to left to give the Frogs a 3-0 advantage.

“I was behind in the count again and battling,” Pena said. “I was guessing inside fastball. I got it and put a good swing on it.”

Purke was rolling along through the first four innings before Chris Giovinazzo reached on a bunt single with one out in the fifth. He moved to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on a base hit by Brett Krill.

Cody Regis had a leadoff single in the seventh against Purke and moved to second when pinch-hitter Trevor Brown drew a one-out walk. Tyler Lockwood relieved Purke and allowed a fielder’s choice, a walk and a fielder’s choice to plate the second run for the Bruins. Lockwood fanned Beau Amaral to end the frame.

TCU tacked on two huge insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh. Matt Curry had a leadoff single and was sacrificed to second. Featherston crushed a homer to left, his eighth, to give the Frogs a 5-2 cushion. Holaday added a dinger in the eighth, his 15th, to give TCU a 6-2 advantage.

Lockwood pitched the final 2.2 scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and two strikeouts to earn his eighth save.

“We had a ton of ground-ball outs,” said UCLA head coach John Savage, “and you’ve got to give Lockwood a ton of credit as well. He came out and threw the ball extremely well.”

Bruin starter Rob Rasmussen (11-3) allowed six hits and three earned runs in 4.1 innings with three walks and six strikeouts.

Featherston had two hits, two walks and three RBI for the Frogs.

Regis had two hits and a run for UCLA.

(photo courtesy of TCU Media Relations Office)