Daily Skiff

The Horned Frogs baseball team plated five runs in the fifth to recover from a 4-1 deficit and win 8-5 at Lupton Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Two of the five runs came when catcher Bryan Holaday hammered the ball out, breaking a then 4-4 tie.

After being stymied in much of Friday's loss, TCU's offense got started early, scoring in the second off doubles from Bryan Holaday and Jason Coats. Coats collected three hits in the contest while Holaday had two. The Horned Frogs also got a Taylor Featherston single in the first and a double from Chris Ellington but failed to score.

Coats said he would like to see the offense spread out more, rather than mostly concentrated in a single inning.

"I think we'd like to score every inning, just to give our pitchers more support," Coats said.

The timing of the runs is not an issue for Schlossnagle.

"If you have that big inning, it's awful tough to lose," Schlossnagle said. "I'll take it anyway I can get it."

The comeback began with one out in the fifth when an error by the first baseman allowed Ben Carruthers to reach, followed by a Featherson single, a Matt Carpenter triple and a Matt Curry single. Next, Holaday stamped the ball out to center.

Aztec starter Jon Berger surrendered seven of the eight runs as well as 11 of the 12 hits.

Paul Gerrish started for the Frogs for the first time this season. Gerrish, who entered the game with a 0.79 ERA for the season, allowed four runs on five hits and struck out five. Spotless through the first third of the game, Gerrish allowed two runs in the fourth, and started the fifth with a single and walk before being relieved by Trent Appleby, who threw the last five innings, giving up one run.

Schlossnagle said Gerrish will get another opportunity to start. The junior has been to the hill seven times this season as a reliever but made six starts last season.

"He will definitely get more starts," Schlossnagle said. "You saw him get out there and kind of tire a little bit in the fourth or fifth inning. He was kind of running out of gas there towards the end, but we will definitely get him stretched out."

The win gives the Horned Frogs a 3-2 record in Mountain West play and a 15-8 mark overall. The final game of the series is Sunday at 1 p.m.

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