Relief pitcher perfect, strikes out 11 as TCU baseball clinches series against Texas Tech

TCU right-hander Jake Eissler tossed five perfect innings of relief as the Horned Frogs rallied for a 9-5 series-clinching victory over No. 4 Texas Tech on Sunday in a Big 12 baseball game at Lupton Stadium.

Eissler, a sophomore from Littleton, Colo., took over with a runner on first and nobody out in the fifth. He then retired all 15 batters he faced and struck out a career-high 11 of them.

Texas Tech (33-12, 11-7 Big 12) jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but TCU (22-18, 8-9) answered with one in the first and three more in the second before the game was tied at 5-5 through three innings.

Josh Watson staked the Horned Frogs to a 6-5 lead with a leadoff homer in the fourth before Michael Landestoy scored on an error later in the inning as TCU went up 7-5.

TCU took advantage of four walks in the seventh to take a 9-5 lead as A.J. Balta and Johnny Rizer scored on free passes.

The Frogs next travel to face Abilene Christian at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

UTA 16, Troy 11

Noah Vaughan blasted two home runs and the UT Arlington baseball team collected 19 hits in cruising past Troy on Sunday at Riddle-Pace Field in Troy, Ala.

The Mavericks (21-23, 11-10 Sun Belt) salvaged the finale of a three-game series in a back-and-forth battle.

UTA scored four runs in the sixth to take a 7-3 lead, but Troy (30-14, 13-8) answered with four in the bottom of the seventh to tie it at 7-7.

But then the Mavericks erupted for eight runs on nine hits in the eighth to go up 15-7.

Vaughan, Omar Salinas and Will Olson each had three hits to lead the offensive barrage.

UTA returns to action Tuesday when they travel to face Dallas Baptist at 6:30 p.m. at Horner Ballpark.

This story was originally published April 29, 2018 at 8:45 PM with the headline "Relief pitcher perfect, strikes out 11 as TCU baseball clinches series against Texas Tech."