By Rusty Simmons staff reporter For the third consecutive game, the TCU baseball team failed to get head coach Lance Brown his 400th career victory Tuesday as the Frogs lost to Texas-Arlington 3-2 in extra innings. But Brown said he is more worried about his team's hitting troubles than reaching the personal milestone.
TCU did get 10 hits in the 11-inning contest, but the middle of the batting order hit was a combined 2 for 12. With a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning, freshman shortstop Ramon Moses reached on a walk, stole second base, advanced to third base on a throwing error by the Maverick's Matt Anderson and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. The Frogs' first lead of the game lasted one inning until UTA's John-Paul Davis drove home the Mavericks' second run in the bottom half of the eighth inning with a sacrifice fly. The game-tying run came off junior pitcher David Tombrella, who replaced junior pitcher Stan Newton. Newton threw two innings of hitless baseball, and senior starting pitcher Shawn Thompson gave up only one unearned run in five innings of baseball. Brown said the lack of offense is putting a lot of pressure on the pitchers, but they are responding. "It wears (the pitchers) down when there is no offense," he said. "The pitchers start to think they have to make perfect pitches. The defense has to play perfect, and there is a lot of tension." With the score knotted 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, UTA got a runner on third with only one out. Tombrella managed to record a strike out and a ground out before the Mavericks could score the winning run. TCU did not advance a runner past second base over the next two innings, and Brown said some things are going to have to change offensively for the Frogs. "We're going to have to start hitting-and-running and bunting because we're not getting anything done at the plate," he said. In the bottom of the 11th inning, UTA's Kelly Crosby led off with a walk. He advanced to third base on the Mavericks' Jared Ferrans' single, and Anderson made up for his throwing error earlier in the game by driving in the game-winning run for the second time in a week. "I'm trying to get this team ready for the conference games that matter," Brown said. "Right now, we're getting beat by teams that aren't really that good. If somebody doesn't step up soon, we could be in for a long season." Junior right fielder Tom Bates led TCU with four hits on the day. Junior left fielder Jason Price was the only other Frog with multiple hits against the Mavericks. TCU plays UTA two more times this week. The Mavericks come to the TCU Baseball Diamond at 2 p.m. Thursday before returning to Allan Saxe Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Friday.
Rusty Simmons
By Chris Harrison staff reporter It's calm after the Hurricane. Tulsa led from the opening tip-off of the game Saturday and the Golden Hurricane did not let up until after the second half horn blew. Tulsa, ranked No. 16 in the country, defeated the Frogs 103-70 to stay ahead of the Western Athletic Conference. TCU, however, dropped to 4-4 in conference play. Coach Billy Tubbs thinks his team will still be able to salvage the wreckage and be able to come together for a team that has already beat them once. The Frogs will host the Hawaii Rainbows 7:05 p.m. Thursday at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. "We have to put the Tulsa game behind us and look ahead," said Tubbs. "I think there is still a fire in this team and we will be ready to play." In their first meeting this season, the Rainbows barely edged out the Horned Frogs. The Frogs trailed the Rainbows by as many as 21 points in the second half but battled back to within in a point late in the game. The Rainbows were too much in the end, winning by four points, 90-86. "Beating us (TCU) over there in Hawaii was a really big win for Hawaii," said Tubbs. "They are playing really well right now and have some good victories over some tough teams. Tubbs said the two teams match up well. "They are a little bigger than we are, but overall I think we match up with them pretty good," said Tubbs. "It's going to be a great basketball game. They have a really good inside player, and they have some guards who can really shoot the ball. They only beat us by four points last time. I think the advantage will be on our side this time because the game is at home." Tubbs said he thinks having the game at TCU will be an advantage for the Frogs. "It's just like the SMU game. SMU is a really good team. They came here to play and so did our fans and students," Tubbs said. "When the students fill the seats it makes a huge difference. We beat a good SMU team and the students had a lot to do with it. The more seats the students fill, the harder it is going to be for Hawaii to win." TCU comes into Thursday night's game second in the country behind the Duke Blue Devils in points per game with 88.9. On Thursday, against the Rice Owls, freshman Bingo Merriexset a freshman record for three pointers in a game with six. Merriex announced himself to the nation Jan. 29, against SMU. Merriex made 4-5 from behind the three-point line and scored 16 points helping the Frogs defeat the Mustangs 92-75. Hawaii is coming off a home loss Saturday against Fresno State 85-77. Senior forward Marquette Alexanderscored 19 points and brought down 14 boards in a losing attempt against the Bulldogs.
Chris Harrison |
"We're not hitting a lick right now," he said.
"We've only hit about two balls hard all year, and we never really
came close to scoring today except when we luckily got a couple (of base
hits) to fall in."| The TCU Daily Skiff © 1998, 1999 Credits |