FORT WORTH--TCU jumped on top of Oral Roberts early and rode a brilliant pitching performance by freshman righthander Andrew Mitchell to a 10-2 victory over the Golden Eagles Friday in Game 2 of the NCAA Fort Worth Regional at Lupton Stadium.
The top-seeded Horned Frogs improved to 43-17 on the season while advancing to play No. 3 seed Dallas Baptist in Saturday's winner's bracket contest at 7 p.m. ORU, the regional's No. 4 seed, will play No. 2 Oklahoma Saturday at 2 p.m. in the loser's bracket after falling to 36-21 overall.
TCU plated five runs in the opening two innings to put the early pressure on the Golden Eagles, then Mitchell erased any thoughts of an ORU comeback. Mitchell turned in one of the best outings of his young career, pitching seven scoreless innings while allowing only two hits and one walk. No baserunner was even able to reach second base against the Houston native.
As focused as Mitchell proved to be on the mound, the Frogs appeared to be just as sharp at the plate. The squad reached double figures in runs for the 13th time this season while registering 12 hits. Four players had at least two RBI, including sophomore third baseman Jantzen Witte, who went 3-for-4 while knocking in three runs.
Senior first baseman Joe Weik, junior designated hitter Zac Jordan and freshman Brett Johnsonadded a pair of RBI each for TCU, with Johnson's coming on an eighth-inning pinch-hit home run, TCU's first of the season.
TCU took control of the contest early, moving out to a 5-0 lead following just two innings of play. AfterJoe Weik drove home Kyle Von Tungeln on a single to right center with one out in the bottom of the first inning, the Frogs exploded for four more runs in the second. The Frogs sent nine batters to the plate in the frame, totaling six singles and four runs.
Featherston got things started, beating out an infield hit to shortstop, then came around to score to a single to left by Jordan. Jordan came home on a single by Jerome Pena and ensuing error by ORU right fielder Nick Baligod, while Witte later plated Pena with another hit through the hole on the right side of the infield. Weik finished off the Frogs' big inning with yet another single, this one to left center, to plate Witte.
TCU added to its lead in the sixth inning, manufacturing three more runs off two hits, a walk and a hit batsman. Featherston led off the inning with a bloop single to right center, then advanced to second base on a balk by ORU righthander Dan Martony. After a sacrifice bunt by Rivera, Jordan plated Featherston on a sac fly to right for the first run. Pena and Von Tungeln followed by reaching base on a hit by pitch and walk, respectively, and Witte later scored both runners on a single to center.
Johnson's pinch-hit blast in the eighth inning concluded the scoring for TCU, bringing home Rivera, who was hit by a pitch from ORU senior righthander Jason Stacy to open the frame.
The Frogs held ORU off the scoreboard until the ninth inning, as the Golden Eagles plated a pair of runs off four walks and one base hit. Junior shortstop Cam Schiller drove in senior center fielder Joey Winiecki with a base hit for the first tally, while senior left fielder Chris Elder later scored after being forced in on a walk drawn by freshman third baseman T.J. Bennett.
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