Frogs win one of three at Astros Classic

By Brandon Ortiz
Skiff Staff

Five games into the season, head coach Lance Brown’s new small-ball philosophy is starting to work.

Sort of.

With the bases loaded and the score tied in the seventh inning of Sunday’s game against Texas, Brown called for a suicide squeeze off Longhorn lefty Justin Simmons. Junior first baseman Justin Crowder laid a bunt down the third base line, scoring senior outfielder Tom Bates giving the Frogs a 2-1 win.

The win kept the Frogs from being swept in the Astros College Baseball Classic at Enron Field in Houston.
Junior shortstop Erick Macha said the bunt surprised him.

Junior Justin Crowder pitches in the season-opening doubleheader Jan. 30 against Prairie View A&M. Crowder laid down the game-winning bunt against Texas in the Frogs’ third game of the Astros College Baseball Classic at Enron Field in Houston.

“Crowder (laid down) a perfect bunt,” Macha said. “Texas did not expect it. (The play was a) surprise to me, but it worked well.”

Sunday’s upset of preseason No. 20 Texas aside, the Frogs’ new emphasis on small ball was never really put to the test. The Frogs (3-2) were outscored 18 to 10 for the weekend.

In a season where Brown is placing more emphasis on pitching and defense than in the past, the Frogs made four errors and allowed five unearned runs in three games.

“We had one good game, one average game and one bad game,” Brown said about the defense.

The one good game Brown referred to was Sunday.

Durham pitched the first five innings against Texas, struggling with control from time to time but allowing only one run off two hits. He got into trouble early, loading the bases by hitting three Longhorn batters.

Freshman reliever Clayton Jerome pitched four shutout innings of relief, allowing just two hits and striking out three, to pick up his first career win.

The Frogs had no errors and allowed only fours hits.

“We have got to keep the level of defense at that level for the rest of they year,” Durham said. “(The defense) saved me in a lot of situations.”

The Frogs lost the first two games of the tournament against Texas Tech and Baylor, 5-4 and 12-4.
The Frogs led the Red Raiders through five innings Friday, when freshman reliever Clint Mokry allowed a two-run home run to put the Red Raiders ahead 4-3.

Chris Bradshaw allowed only two runs in five innings and struck out seven in his second start of the season Friday.

Saturday, Baylor jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on two hits and a Walter Olmstead error at first base. Olmstead recovered from the error and went on to be selected to the all-tournament team. Olmstead batted .417 with three doubles and a home run in three games.

Senior pitcher David Tombrella and Crowder allowed 12 runs (four unearned) in seven innings on 16 hits. The Frogs’ defense had three errors in the loss.

The Frogs return to action at 2:05 p.m. Wednesday at the TCU Diamond.

Brandon Ortiz
b.p.ortiz@student.tcu.edu