FORT WORTH, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word baseball team traveled to #5 TCU on Tuesday night and lost 6-1 at Lupton Stadium.

The Cardinals (13-26) stayed closed with the Horned Frogs (31-8), but never really threatened the home team.  TCU took the lead in the first inning when Elliott Barzilli swung and missed at strike three, but the pitch went wild and allowed the runner to score from third.  UIW starting pitcher Kris Looper (Wharton/Wharton HS) actually struck out four batters in the first inning.

The Horned Frogs took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third when Keaton Jones drove in a pair with a two-out single.  Jones had another run-scoring single in the fifth inning and then scored on Zack Plunkett's two-out single.

The Cardinals looked like they were going to score in the sixth inning when Matt Morris (Scottsdale, AZ/Saguaro HS) cracked a one-out triple, but he was left at third.  UIW got on the board in the seventh inning.  They loaded the bases with one out and Trey Rodriguez's (Corpus Christi/Carroll HS) ground out scored Christian Divelbiss (Yuba City, CA/Yuba City HS).

Looper was tagged with the loss for the Cardinals.  He gave up five hits, three runs and three walks in 3.0 innings while striking out four.  Matthew Decker (Hickory Creek/Lake Dallas HS) and Trevor Hardee (Alvord/Alvord HS) each tossed a shutout inning of relief.  Brance Kahle (Colleyville/Grapevine Faith HS) had two hits for the club.

TCU finished the game with 12 hits as both Jones and Plunkett had three hits apiece.  Connor Wanhanen was 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.  Brian Howard earned the win by tossing 5.0 shutout innings to start the game.  Preston Guillory notched the save with 2.2 shutout innings of relief.

The Cardinals travel to Southland Conference rival Lamar for a three-game series this weekend on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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