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TCU Battles Back to Win Second Straight MWC Baseball Tournament Title
With the win, TCU earns the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament that begins next weekend.
May 26, 2007
CLICK HERE for recaps, box scores, photos and MORE! LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The top-seeded TCU Horned Frogs (46-12) were down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth inning and rallied for four runs to win their second straight Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship. TCU scored seven unanswered runs to take the game by a 9-8 margin at Earl E. Wilson Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 8-5 heading into their final at bat, Austin Adams stepped up and deposited a three-run game-tying home run to straight-away center field on an offering by Matt Jensen. Matt Vern delivered the game-winning hit to wrap up the championship.
With one-out recorded in the ninth, Clint Arnold began the rally with a double to left. Steven Trout was then walked to put runners on first and second. Following a strike out, Adams tied up the game with his smash. Andrew Walker kept things rolling with a double down the right field line. Vern's dramatics immediately followed to win the ball game.
BYU jumped out quickly for a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning off of TCU's Chance Corgan. The Cougars scattered four hits around the field for their three runs. Dan Vargas got the offense rolling with a one-out single to left. Apana Nakayama took a base-on-balls to put runners on second and first. Kent Walton stepped up and delivered a single to center to bring home Vargas for the game's first run. Steve Parker brought in the second run with a single to left. Kasey Ko plated the third run on a ground out to first.
The Cougars took a 4-0 advantage in the third on a sacrifice fly by Ko to score Walton from third.
TCU got the third inning run back on a run-scoring single by Ben Carruthers. Bryan Kervin led off the inning by reaching on a fielding error by BYU's shortstop.
BYU pushed its lead to 6-1 with two runs in the fourth. Austin Hall and Stephen Wells strung together back-to-back singles, while Vargas moved them into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. With runners in scoring position, Corgan uncorked a wild pitch which allowed Hall to score. Walton scored Wells from third on a single through the left side.
In the bottom of the fourth, Keith Conlon blasted a solo home run to pull TCU within four runs at 6-2.
Four singles got two more runs on the board for BYU in the fifth. Hall and Wells delivered consecutive singles to bring home the runs. TCU had runners in scoring position in the sixth and got an RBI-single by Trout to bring one run home. Conlon picked up his second RBI of the game with a fielder's choice ground out.
The Horned Frogs pulled within three with a run scored by Hunt Woodruff on an errant throw by Parker at third base. Woodruff led off the inning with a single and made his way into scoring position on a ground out.
Steven Maxwell (1-0) picked up his first win of the season in only one-third of an inning of work.
Jensen (5-5) suffered the loss in 2.0 innings of relief. He allowed four runs on four hits, while walking one and striking out one.
With the win, TCU earns the automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament that begins next weekend.
2007 MWC Baseball Championship All-Tournament Team
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