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Baseball
team defeats Iowa State Mother Nature apologized and made up with the TCU baseball team in a big way Thursday. The weather has not been friendly to the Frogs for the past month with rain dogging them at every turn. But Thursday, it was a big boost. With winds gusting up to 38 miles an hour, the Horned Frogs (14-9) set program records for home runs (nine), runs (29) and RBIs (29) to defeat Iowa State (5-10) 29-4. Head coach Lance Brown said he hasn’t seen too many games like it. “They hit up in the air, and (the wind) took it,” Brown said. Senior outfielder Rudy Rivera had two home runs, including a wind-aided shot that hit the second fence next to the astronomy lab. Eight different Frogs hit home runs, including four who did not start. Sophomore outfielder Jeff Reed, who had only five at bats coming into the game, had a pinch-hit home run. In only his second career at bat, redshirt freshman outfielder Kenny Thompson hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning. Junior catcher Jonathan Marshall, in his first game at TCU, hit a home run in the eighth to tie the previous single-game record for home runs. Junior designated hitter Trey Crawford, who came into the game hitting .222, hit a grand slam in the eighth to break the record. All three home runs in the eighth inning were the players’ career firsts. Junior shortstop Erick Macha also became the Frogs’ all-time career triples leader when he hit a triple in the third inning. The triple raised Macha’s career total to 15. Brown said before the game that he wanted to give a lot of players playing time, and he did just that. Brown cleared most of his bench utilizing 19 different players.
Brown said he didn’t think the blow out was very beneficial
to either team since it wasn’t a typical game.
Brandon Ortiz |