TCU baseball evens series against Oklahoma State

Connor Wanhanen collected three hits and two RBIs, Preston Morrison added another line to his All-America career and TCU beat Oklahoma State 7-4 on Saturday night to even the series at Lupton Stadium.

The Horned Frogs (17-3, 4-1 Big 12) lost 7-6 in 12 innings Friday night to the Cowboys (15-7, 1-1). They’ll conclude the series at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Morrison (5-0) tossed 7 2/3 innings Saturday, bringing his career total to 388 1/3 — a school record. He surpassed Clayton Jerome’s mark after recording the second out of the sixth inning.

Morrison was solid through the first seven innings, allowing just two runs (one earned). But he gave up a two-run homer to Dustin Williams, from Weatherford, in the eighth, and finished with three earned runs allowed.

He struggled at times with his command in the rainy conditions, but the senior battled and finished with nine strikeouts, three walks and two hit batsmen.

“I was a little out of sorts — I’ll be the first to admit that,” Morrison said. “I didn’t really have any of my pitches working those first four or five innings.

“I kind of found my fastball and slider up there for a little bit, but for the most part I just had to battle.”

TCU’s offense provided consistent support, scoring runs in the first, second, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

The Frogs led 3-1 after two, and OSU starter Tyler Buffett was pulled. Left-hander Tyler Nurdin, from Fort Worth Paschal, prevented further damage, despite allowing a Wanhanen double to start the third.

But in the fifth, Derek Odell advanced to second base on a throwing error by the shortstop, and Evan Skoug then singled up the middle to extend TCU’s lead to 4-2. That hit extended Skoug’s hitting streak to 17 games and pushed his team-high RBI total to 14.

The next inning, Wanhanen drew a two-out bases-loaded walk to force home Nolan Brown, and Keaton Jones’ bloop double in the seventh inning scored two more runs for the Horned Frogs.

Travis Evans relieved Morrison with two outs in the eighth, and Trey Teakell earned his first save of the season in the ninth.

This story was originally published March 21, 2015 at 11:24 PM with the headline "TCU baseball evens series against Oklahoma State."