June 14, 2015

College World Series Scores & Schedules

 

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.