COLLEGE BASEBALL

• TCU, South Carolina stay alive with CWS victories

  Omaha, NE (Sports Network) - Freshman left-hander Matt Purke worked 6 1/3 impressive innings, while Jerome Pena and Taylor Featherston homered to keep TCU alive with a 6-2 win over UCLA Friday.

  The two teams have split a pair of games and will play an elimination game on Saturday afternoon with the winner advancing to the College World Series title series.

  In the nightcap, South Carolina also kept its hopes alive with a 5-1 win over Clemson.

  Like UCLA and TCU, the Gamecocks and Tigers will play on Saturday to determine who advances to the championship series.

  Featherston drew a bases loaded walk for the Horned Frogs with two outs in the first to force in the opening game's first run. The base on balls came one pitch after a foul pop landed in between three players along the right-field line.

  TCU pushed its' lead to 2-0 in the second when Pena's blooper to left scored Aaron Schultz, who had led off the inning with a double.

  Pena clubbed a home run to left field in the fourth that extended the Horned Frogs' lead to 3-0, but UCLA answered back in the top of the fifth on a two- out, run-scoring hit by Brett Krill.

  UCLA starter Rob Rasmussen was lifted after a one-out walk in the bottom of the fifth and wound up suffering the loss after yielding three runs on six hits and three walks while striking out six. He had not pitched in 12 days since tossing a complete game victory over Cal-State Fullerton on June 13.

  Purke was lifted with two runners on in the seventh and replaced by Tyler Lockwood, who issued a two-out walk to load the bases before Niko Gallego fielder's choice grounder scored Cody Regis to trim the lead to 3-2. The right-hander then struck out Beau Amaral to end the inning and preserve the lead.

  Lockwood then threw scoreless relief in the eighth and ninth innings to earn the save.

  Purke improved to 16-0 after allowing a pair of runs on three hits, while walking two and striking out two. He recorded 14 ground ball outs.

  Featherston then slammed a two-run homer off Garett Claypool in the bottom of the seventh to give TCU a three-run advantage. Bryan Holaday belted a solo shot in the eighth for the final run of the game. It was also the 99th long ball of the season for the Horned Frogs to establish a school record.

  In the second game, Michael Roth allowed one run and three hits in a complete game win, while Kyle Enders blasted a solo homer and drove in two runs for South Carolina.

  Jackie Bradley Jr.

  also plated two runs to help the Gamecocks move one step closer to their first championship series since 2002.

  Richie Shaffer scored the lone run for the Tigers, who have never been to the title series despite this being their 12th CWS appearance.

  South Carolina scored single runs in each of the first four innings to build a 4-1 lead.

  In the first, Evan Marzilli doubled and eventually scored on a groundout, and Brady Thomas doubled in the second and made it 2-0 on an Adrian Morales single.

  Bradley's RBI double in the third increased the lead again before Shaffer scored on a passed ball in the home half for Clemson to cut the deficit to two.

  Enders' homer restored the three-run lead in the fourth, and he added an RBI single in the sixth to account for the final margin. After allowing the lone run of his outing, Roth failed to let a runner reach third in the final six innings.

  06/25 23:55:21 ET