Rebels surrender lead, game to Horned Frogs

The UNLV baseball team led Texas Christian by as many as three runs Friday night, but that was before the Mountain West Conference leader tallied eight consecutive runs en route to a decisive 13-6 victory at Wilson Stadium.

The Horned Frogs (25-9, 8-1 Mountain West) tied the score at 4 in the fourth inning on Matt Vern’s two-run double and Clint Arnold’s RBI double.

TCU then went ahead 9-4 in the fifth when Steven Trout scored from third base on a wild pitch, Austin Adams stroked an RBI single and Arnold added a two-run double and later scored on an error.

Blake Gailen’s RBI double and Keith Smith’s run-producing single in the seventh allowed the Rebels to trim the Horned Frogs’ lead to 9-6.

But Keith Conlon’s RBI single and Adams’ two-run single in the eighth increased the Horned Frogs’ advantage to 12-6. Ben Carruthers’ RBI sacrifice bunt in the ninth put TCU ahead by the final margin.

The Horned Frogs had taken a 1-0 lead when Adams doubled to lead off the second and scored on Andrew Walker’s one-out double.

Walker later advanced to third but was the second part of UNLV third baseman Xavier Scruggs’ unassisted double play. Scruggs caught a line drive by Arnold and stepped on third.

The Rebels tied the game at 1 in the second when their top hitter, Ryan Kowalski (.365 entering Friday night), singled, stole second and scored on Kyle Kretchmer’s single. They went ahead 3-1 when the next batter, Scruggs, hit a two-run homer over the right-field fence.

UNLV (14-24, 3-7 Mountain West) took a 4-1 lead in the third after Gailen singled and later scored from third when pitcher Jake Arrieta’s errant throw on Smith’s infield grounder soared over home plate.

Kowalski went 3-for-4 and Scruggs was 2-for-3 for the Rebels.

Adams paced the Horned Frogs with a 4-for-5 effort and Arnold went 3-for-5.

Arrieta (6-2) was the winning pitcher.

Kevin Skogley (0-3) took the loss.