Morrison, Wanhanen
Lead TCU past LSU
By Phil Stanton
CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder
@roadtoomaha
OMAHA,
Neb. - The senior finally earned his
first postseason victory.
Preston Morrison (right) tossed seven
impressive innings as No. 7 TCU thumped second-seeded LSU 10-3
in Game 3 of the 2015 College World Series Sunday afternoon in
front of 24,506 fans at TD Ameritrade Park.
The Horned Frogs (50-13) will play on Tuesday,
June 16 at 7 p.m. CT against the winner of the Vanderbilt-Cal
State Fullerton contest. The Tigers (53-11) will face the
loser of the Vandy-Fullerton game on Tuesday at 2 p.m. CT in
an elimination contest.
Morrison (12-3) scattered five hits and allowed
one run. He did not walk a batter and struck out five.
Morrison retired the final 12 batters he faced.
"It was very exciting," Morrison said. "I think
the most important thing for me is just getting another step
closer to our ultimate goal of the national championship.
They're a good lineup and I had to adjust a little bit after
that one-run inning. They were going after me earlier in the
count than we had planned for. But we made adjustments."
It looked like LSU was going to score in the
bottom of the third. Jared Foster had a one-out single to left
and stole second. After a strikeout, Jake Fraley hit a single
up the middle. Center fielder Cody Jones fired a strike to the
plate and catcher Evan Skoug caught the ball, blocked the
plate and put the tag on Foster simultaneously to keep the
game scoreless.
'It was amazing the turnaround," LSU head coach
Paul Mainieri said, "because in the bottom of the third
inning, we came through with a clutch base hit by Fraley with
two outs, and 99 out of 100 times a runner scores on that
ball. And somehow he didn't score this time. Their outfielder
made a perfect throw, their catcher made a good tag, blocked
the plate and we weren't able to score. And the turnaround was
so immediate. It spiraled out of control there."
After Poche' had retired the first nine hitters
of the game, Jones hit a come-backer to Poche' to start the
top of the fourth. Poche' threw wildly past first and Jones
was able to scamper all the way to third. Jeremie Fagnan
bounced one back to Poche', who again threw wild to put Frogs
on the corners with no outs. Connor Wanhanen singled up the
middle to plate Jones with the first run. Evan Skoug thought
he was hit by a pitch to load the bases, but the home plate
ump called a foul ball. On the next pitch, Skoug hit into a
4-6-3 double play. Dane Steinhagen kept the rally going with a
single up the middle to drive in Fagnan and give TCU a 2-0
advantage.
LSU answered in the bottom of the fourth. Alex
Bregman had a leadoff single and moved to second on a base hit
by Kade Scivicque. Both moved up a base on a groundout and
Bregman came home on a groundout by Stevenson to make it 2-1.
TCU had the bats going again in the fifth.
Keaton Jones drew a one-out walk and moved to second on a base
hit by Nolan Brown. Both moved up on a wild pitch and a walk
to Garrett Crain loaded the bases. Cody Jones reached on an
error, driving home Keaton Jones. Fagnan was hit by a pitch to
force home Brown. Wanhanen added a two-run single to make it
6-1 and end the afternoon for Poche'.
"Obviously that was a big play," Wanhanen said
of his hit. "I knew I needed to see a pitch up and something I
could drive. He threw a couple of good pitches I took that
were more to the lower half of the zone. But anybody could
have done it. That's the way our lineup is. It just happened
to be me that got up with the bases loaded. I was just trying
to get a pitch up and do what we can."
Derek Odell had a two-run double to cap a
four-run seventh as TCU extended the lead to 10-1.
"I think I'm just getting my pitch to hit,"
Odell said, "being patient up there. I'm letting the bad ones
go and I'm waiting on the one that I want to hit, and I'm
ready for a fastball. And when I get it, I'm not missing it."
Closer Riley Ferrell pitched the ninth for the
Frogs and struck out the side to preserve the victory. He had
given up runs in four of his previous five appearances.
"I definitely wanted to get him in the game,"
TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "He was going to pitch
either way, whether we were up, down or close. And certainly
it's a lot easier to get him work when that's the situation. I
was really happy to see that. Just like to see the smile on
his face. So we've never had any doubt about him."
Wanhanen went 3 for 4
with a run and three RBI, while Steinhagen and Odell both had
two hits and two RBI for the Frogs.
Jared Foster went 2 for 3 for the Tigers,
including his 10th home run in the eighth.