TCU turns to closer early to beat Dallas Baptist, bad weather

All of a sudden, the seventh inning became a closing situation for TCU freshman Durbin Feltman.

Called in to pitch after a one-hour, 32-minute lightning delay, the right-hander got a strikeout and a ground ball to finish the inning and complete a 2-0 victory Tuesday night for the Horned Frogs at Dallas Baptist.

With runners at first and second and one out, Feltman struck out Matt Duce and got a fielder’s choice to short from Tim Millard on nine pitches.

Minutes later, a lightning strike prompted the umpires to pull the teams off the field and call the game a final.

Ryan Burnett and Preston Guillory had each warmed up to appear in relief for TCU (29-10) before Schlossnagle — with storms approaching and the possibility growing that the seventh might be the last inning played — opted for Feltman to shut down the threat.

Feltman got his third save, and 10th-ranked TCU got a road win against a winning team. Dallas Baptist (27-12), which defeated TCU 9-1 in Fort Worth on April 12, is ranked 40th in the RPI.

“With it being a road game, it helps us even more,” Schlossnagle said.

TCU catcher Evan Skoug’s two-run home run in the fourth inning provided all the scoring. It was his seventh of the season and tied him for the team lead in RBIs. He and Luken Baker each have 38.

Rex Hill started and pitched two scoreless innings for TCU. Jared Janczak pitched 4  1/3 innings, allowing only three hits until he ran into trouble in the seventh inning with a single, fielder’s choice and hit a batter. Lightning stopped the game there.

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 10:43 PM with the headline "TCU turns to closer early to beat Dallas Baptist, bad weather."