TCU completes mid-week sweep of UTPA

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Top-ranked TCU scored early and often to complete the midweek sweep of Texas-Pan American with an 11-5 win. The victory pushes the Horned Frogs' win streak to eight. Nolan Brown paced the offense with two hits and three RBIs.

Offensively, the Frogs made the most of their 10 hits. TCU drew seven walks, was hit by a pitch and had one runner reach on an error in the game. Six of the free passes came around to score. Four Horned Frogs finished the night with at least two hits and two RBIs.

Tyler Alexander (1-1) picked up his first win of the season with a solid outing. He surrendered just two runs on six hits in seven innings of work. The sophomore fanned a career-high nine strikeouts. Travis Evans gave up three runs on two hits and a walk in his two innings of work.

Back-to-back walks to Cody Jones and Austen Wade to lead off the first opened the door for a big inning. Derek Odell put the Frogs up 1-0 with a base hit through the right side. Evan Skoug reached on an error to push across the second run and Garrett Crain followed with a single to center for a 3-0 lead. Skoug and Crain executed a double steal for the final run of the inning.

The Broncs cut the lead in half in the top of the third. Cole Loncar singled with one out and scored on a two-out home run off the bat of Logan Landon to make it a 4-2 contest.

TCU got the runs back in the bottom of the frame. Crain was hit by the pitch to open the inning and stole second. Keaton Jones worked a walk and a passed ball moved both runners into scoring position. Nolan Brown lined a double into left field to drive in both runs for a 6-2 lead.

Three more runs crossed the plate in the fourth as the TCU lead grew to seven at 9-2. With one out, Odell drew a walk. Evan Skoug beat out an infield single to put two on. Crain doubled off the wall in right center to clear the bases and scored the ninth run of the game on Brown's second hit of the night.

Another two runs scored in the eighth to extend the lead to nine at 11-2. Cody Jones doubled to lead off the inning and scored on an Odell sacrifice fly. Skoug followed with an RBI single to cap the scoring.

UTPA went down swinging in the ninth. With two outs, Alexis Hernandez doubled to start the rally. After a walk, Lee Rios homered to right to make it an 11-5 contest. Evans got Isaac Gonzalez to ground out to end the game.

With the win, TCU improves to 16-2 on the season. The Frogs will resume conference play Friday night when they host No. 19 Oklahoma State. Friday's series opener is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m.