The No. 1-seed TCU Horned Frogs stayed alive with a 9-2 victory over No. 3-seed BYU Thursday afternoon at Lupton Stadium, eliminating the Cougars from the 2009 Conoco Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship.

The Horned Frogs advance to meet the loser of tonight's San Diego State-Utah winner's bracket game at 3 p.m. CT Friday.

Winkler (6-0) tossed his first career complete game and denied the Cougars the chance to stay alive after winning earlier in the day against No. 2 New Mexico. He had six strikeouts and allowed 11 hits, while walking none.

"He's probably been our most consistent starting pitcher in the last three or four weeks," TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "The game begins and ends with starting pitching. There is no other secret formula."

"Being a freshman, I know coach expects a lot of me and I expect a lot out of myself," Winkler said. "I didn't want to be too high or too low for the game."

Offensively, TCU (36-15) pounded out 10 hits in the game and scored seven runs combined in its final three at-bats.

The Frogs built off a 2-0 lead with two runs apiece in the sixth and seventh innings. In the seventh, first baseman Matt Vern started a two-out rally with a double and stole third base. Then, Vern surprised the Cougars by stealing home off BYU left-hander Jared Miller to give TCU a 5-0 lead. Catcher Bryan Holaday made it 6-0 with an RBI single to center after Chris Ellington walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Vern went 4-for-5 with two RBI, two stolen bases and scored three runs. In the eighth, Vern blasted a two-out, two-run home run that carried out to right field in a three-run inning to give the Frogs a 9-1 lead.

BYU, which went 2-2 in the tournament, finished the season 30-24.