COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Brandon Finnegan allowed six hits and struck out seven in seven-plus innings Sunday to help the Texas Christian University baseball team beat the University of Mississippi 5-2 to force a deciding game in the NCAA tournament’s College Station Regional.
Ole Miss (37-25) and TCU (39-20) will meet at 6:35 tonight at Blue Bell Park to decide which team advances to the super regionals.
Finnegan (4-4) allowed two earned runs and walked three in a career-best 7 1/3 innings. TCU grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning on Derek Odell’s two-run home run into the right-field bullpen. It added to its lead with single runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh.
The second-seeded Horned Frogs have won three consecutive games after dropping their regional opener against the third-seeded Rebels on Friday.
R.J. Hively (5-6) took the loss, working 5 2/3 innings and allowing four runs — three earned — on five hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
“TCU just played better than we did tonight,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “When you get to this point of the season, you aren’t going to sneak through. Brandon Finnegan was tremendous for them tonight and we couldn’t catch up to his fastball. It was a gutsy performance from R.J. (Hively) tonight, but we have to help him more than we did.”
Ole Miss scored in the first when Tanner Mathis scored from second on a single through the left side from Matt Snyder. Mathis walked and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Auston Bousfield.
Ole Miss had a chance with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth, but TCU got out of the inning when Kevin Cron reached over the rail and into the visiting dugout to snag a foul fly to end the inning and keep the Horned Frogs in front 3-1.
Ole Miss cut the lead in half in the bottom of the sixth when John Gatlin’s single to shallow right clipped off the glove of the diving right fielder and scored Alex Yarbrough, who reached on a single.
n Earlier Sunday, Stefan Crichton threw a six-hitter, and Odell homered to help TCU eliminate Texas A&M, the top seed, 10-2.
The Horned Frogs scored one run in each of the first three innings — all they’d need for Crichton (9-2), who struck out four and walked one.
Kyle Von Tungeln led the Horned Frogs with three hits, and had two RBIs.
Texas A&M (43-18) was hoping to make it to the College World Series in consecutive seasons for the first time.
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