March 17, 2013

Kansas Baseball Outlasts TCU, 2-0 in 12 innings

March 17, 2013

Kansas 2, TCU 0 (12 innings)
Lupton Stadium //Fort Worth, Texas

Junior Jordan Piche pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up his fourth victory of the year Sunday.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
KU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TCU	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	11	12	R
KU	0	2	2
SBU	0	0	0

Box Score (.pdf)

Leaders – Batting
Kansas	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
D. Smith	6	0	3	0	0	0
J. Dreiling	5	0	2	1	0	0
TCU	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
B. Johnson	5	0	2	0	0	0
C. Jones	3	0	1	0	2	0

Pitching
Kansas	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
T. Taylor	7.0	4	0	0	2	1
R. Kahana	0.2	0	0	0	0	0
J. Piche (W)	4.1	4	0	0	0	4
TCU	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
B. Finnegan	6.2	5	0	0	2	7
A. Mitchell (L)	4.2	4	2	2	3	4
A. Young	0.2	2	0	0	0	1

FORT WORTH, Texas – Senior Jordan Dreiling’s RBI single through the left side of the infield broke a scoreless tie in the top of the 12^th, while junior Jordan Piché pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings of relief as Kansas earned a series win with a 2-0 extra innings victory over TCU Sunday afternoon at Lupton Stadium.

The Jayhawks win their first conference series of the year for the fourth time in the last five seasons, improving to 2-1 in conference play and 13-6 overall. The Horned Frogs fall to 1-2 after their first Big 12 series and 8-11 overall.

After 11 scoreless innings, the Jayhawks broke through with back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Dreiling and freshman Jacob Boylan.

With one out in the top of the 12^th, Ka’iana Eldredge started the rally with a bunt single and then moved to second after Tommy Mirabelli worked a 2-2 count into a walk. Sophomore Dakota Smith then singled through the right side to load the bases. After Justin Protacio struck out, Dreiling and Boylan had back-to-back singles for the only runs KU would need.

In his longest outing of the season, Piché pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed no runs on four hits with four strikeouts. His defense helped him get out of a jam in the 10^th. After a bunt single and an error put the potential winning run on second with one out. TCU junior Boomer White singled through the left side of the infield, but a perfect throw by Michael Suiter in left field and a great tag by Eldredge cut down the run at the plate.

KU also escaped a jam in the sixth when starting pitcher Thomas Taylor faced a bases loaded jam with nobody out. Taylor, who pitched seven scoreless innings in the game, induced a home-to-first double play on a grounder to third. The senior then recorded strikeout No. 199 in his career to end the inning.

Taylor worked seven shutout innings, scattering four hits with two walks and one strikeout. In his last 22 innings, the 6-foot-4 righty has allowed just one earned run.

Smith led the Kansas offense, collecting three hits in the game, while Dreiling, Protacio and Tharp chipped in two apiece. Suiter went hitless for the first time since Feb. 22, snapping his 13-game hitting streak. However, Dreiling extended his streak, reaching base in all 19 of KU’s games.

The Jayhawks earn their first series win at TCU and their second get-away day victory in extra innings in their last two trips to Fort Worth. In 2011, Kansas defeated TCU, 8-7, in 14 innings.

KU will travel to BYU for a four-game series in Provo, Utah, beginning Wednesday, March 20 at 7 p.m. CT. All four games from the series will be televised on BYUTV.

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