Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
TCU
Baseball Falls 6-5 in Second Game of Doubleheader
4/21/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 21, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. - TCU jumped on Fresno State starter Francisco Nieves early and a late Bulldogs rally fell just short as the Horned Frogs defeated FS 6-5 to sweep a doubleheader at Beiden Field. The loss drops the Bulldogs to 28-19 (12-11 WAC) while TCU improved to 27-18 (17-8 WAC).
The Horned Frogs got on the board right away, tallying three runs in the top of the first. Terry Trofholz led off by reaching on a throwing error by third baseman Nick Garcia. After Rudy Ontiveros walked, Eric Macha doubled down the left field line, scoring Trofholz. Consecutive groundouts scored Ontiveros and Macha and gave the Horned Frogs a 3-0 advantage.
TCU added to its lead in the top of the third when Trofholz and Ontiveros doubled back-to-back, putting runners on second and third with nobody out. After Macha struck out, Tom Bates hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Trofholz to make it 4-0 TCU.
One inning later, the Horned Frogs made it 5-0 when Jason Price led off the fourth with one of the four doubles TCU clubbed in the game. Two outs later, Rudy Rivera tripled into right-center, scoring Price.
Fresno State got back into it in its half of the fourth by notching three runs. Josh Labandeira led the inning off with a single. One out later, Casey McGehee singled to put runners on first and second. That brought up Brad Harper, who doubled to drive in both runners and make the score 5-2. With two outs, Garcia knocked in Harper with a single of his own, cutting the advantage to 5-3.
The Horned Frogs picked up one run the next half inning when Ontiveros doubled to lead the inning off. Macha then singled to advance Ontiveros to third. The next batter, Bates, hit a sacrifice fly to center to increase the lead to 6-3.
Strong relief pitching by Ben Fritz kept the Bulldogs in the game from that point forward. The sophomore pitched three shutout innings of relief to keep the score 6-3 and allow Fresno State to mount a rally in the ninth. In FS's last at bat, Nick Garcia led off with a walk. Scott Beshears then pinch hit and grounded one to the third baseman Mike Settle, who attempted to force Garcia at second but succeeded only in throwing the ball into right field, placing runners on the corners with no outs. Two outs later, Labandeira picked up a clutch two-out hit to drive in Garcia and trim the lead to 6-4. Gemoll then singled a full count pitch into left-center to drive in Beshears, making it 6-5. Unfortunately, the uprising died there as McGehee struck out to end the game.
Justin Crowder pitched 7.2 innings to get the win, running his record to 6-3. Stan Newton nailed down the last four outs to pick up his fifth save. Nieves was hung with the loss, dropping his record to 5-2.
The Bulldogs and Horned Frogs wrap up their three-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. at Beiden Field.
