Baseball Takes to the Road
4/19/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
at San Jose State * Thursday, April 20 * 9 p.m.
Municipal Stadium * San Jose, California
at San Jose State * Friday, April 21 * 8 p.m.
Municipal Stadium * San Jose, California
at San Jose State * Saturday, April 22 * 1 p.m.
Municipal Stadium * San Jose, California
(All games times listed are Central time)
KTCU 88.7 FM (Chuck LaMendola)
FROGS TRAVEL TO SAN JOSE
The TCU Horned Frogs (17-25, 8-9) travel to San Jose, California this week to
face San Jose State in a key three-game series. The first-place Spartans
(26-15, 12-6) will host the Frogs Thursday-Saturday, April 20-22 at
Municipal Stadium. TCU trails San Jose State in the WAC Standings by three
games. The Frogs have won four straight, including a series sweep of
Hawaii-Hilo last week. San Jose State dropped two of three to Rice last
weekend, and then lost a non-conference game to Santa Clara on Tuesday. The
three-game trip will be TCU's next to last conference road trip. Later this
month, TCU will travel to Fresno State.
103rd SEASON OF TCU BASEBALL
This is the 103rd edition of TCU baseball. The Frogs have an all-time mark
of 1497-1299-25 for a winning percentage of .538. The Frogs are closing in
on the 2800th game in school history and 1500 wins. The March 10th contest
at Hawai`i was the 2800th baseball game in TCU history. The Frogs are three
victories away from 1500 wins.
HEAD COACH LANCE BROWN
The 2000 Horned Frogs are under the guidance of head coach Lance Brown (TCU,
1967). Brown, TCU's all-time winningest coach, surpassed the 400 win mark in
TCU's 13-9 win over UTA. In his 14th season as the head coach at TCU, Brown
has a record of 415-393. He is assisted by Donnie Watson, Barry Takahashi
and Chris Connally.
WAC PLAY
The Frogs are in their fourth season in the WAC. TCU has compiled a
conference record of 60-45-0, finishing second in all three seasons in the
WAC. Last season, TCU ended conference play with a record of 19-10,
advancing to the Championship game of the WAC Tournament. Always tough at
the TCU Diamond, the Frogs have a record of 37-16 in home conference games.
On the road, the Frogs have compiled a record of 23-29. This season, TCU is
6-3 at home in WAC play and 2-6 on the road.
TCU-SAN JOSE STATE SERIES
When TCU and San Jose State begin play on Thursday, it will be the 12th
meeting between the two teams...the Frogs trail in the overall series,
4-7-0...however, TCU has won three of the last four games, including
two-of-three earlier this year in Fort Worth... the Frogs won the first two
games (13-5 and 6-4)... the Spartans took game three (5-3)... TCU hit .352
with four home runs, eight doubles and a triple... TCU committed only one
error in 113 total chances in the series... Mark Hamilton led TCU with a
.667 average (8-12) and Jason Price hit .583 (7-12)... the pitching staff
posted a 4.67 ERA... the bullpen allowed only one run in 10.1 innings...
last season, the two teams met five times and the Spartans won three of
those games... SJSU won two of three in the regular season and the two
teams split two games in the WAC tourney... TCU defeated San Jose in an
elimination game... in 1997, San Jose State swept TCU in San Jose... the
Spartans won 8-7, 5-3 and 13-9.
GAME COVERAGE
All three games this week can be heard on KTCU (88.7 FM) with Chuck LaMendola
calling the play-by-play. TCU fans can access the radio broadcast of any
TCU game from anywhere in the world via the internet at www.broadcast.com.
The TCU pregame show will begin 15 minutes before the first pitch of every
TCU game.
FROGS SWEEP HAWAII-HILO
For the first this season in conference play, TCU swept a WAC opponent... the
Frogs did so in dramatic fashion... in the finale of the three-game series,
Tom Bates hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, lifting TCU
past the Vulcans by a score of 9-7... the Frogs trailed 7-1 as they entered
the bottom of the 7th... TCU scored three runs in the 7th, one in the 8th
and four in the 9th... Stan Newton struck out two in his one inning of work,
earning his first win of the year... TCU won the opener, 11-5, behind the
hitting of Mark Hamilton... the senior first baseman had four hits,
including his 8th home run... he singled twice and tripled... the Frogs
scored six runs in the 7th to pull away from Hilo... Brad Rogers and Levi
Groomer each had two hits... Erick Macha singled once and walked twice...
Chris Bradshaw earned the win... he allowed five runs in 7.2 innings on 8
hits... in game two, Shawn Thompson allowed one run in the first inning and
then shut out the Vulcans in the final eight innings... he allowed one base
runner in the final 5.1 innings and he did not allow a Hilo runner past
second base after the first inning... Macha hit a solo home run in the 6th
to tie the game... in the 7th, Rogers doubled and scored on Marshall
Wilson's single... TCU hit .302 in the series with 14 extra base hits...
Levi Groomer was hit three times, raising his single-season school record
total to 21... the pitching staff recorded a 4.33 ERA, allowing 13 runs in
27 innings... the defense committed only one error in the entire series...
Hilo hit .255 with four extra base hits... TCU scored 10 runs in the 7th
inning in the three games.
TRENDS
Twenty four of the 42 games this season have been decided by three runs or
less... the Frogs have a record of 10-14 in the 24 games... TCU has a record
of 4-4 in one-run contests, 3-2 in two-run games and 3-8 in games decided by
three runs... the Frogs are now 17-16 in one-run games over the last three
seasons... the Frogs ended the month of March with a record of 8-8... TCU is
5-4 in April... TCU has a record of 12-10 at home and 5-15 on the road
(includes neutral sites)... TCU has scored 248 runs this season, an average
of 5.9 runs per game... in the last 10 games, the Frogs have scored 57 runs,
an average of 5.7 runs per game... after 42 games, TCU has a record of 16-14
against righthanded pitchers and 1-11 against lefties... when TCU leads
after 7 innings, they are 14-5... TCU is 2-3 in night games... the Frogs
have night wins at Hilo and Rice... TCU has five night games left on the
schedule... TCU is 8-3 in games they do not commit an error.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
Several freshmen have made a strong impact this season, most notably Ramon
Moses... the Panama City native has a .307 batting average in 29 games
played... Moses, TCU's starting second baseman is second on the team with
100 assists... freshman third baseman Mike Settle made his debut two weeks
ago at Oklahoma... he drove in one run on one hit in three at-bats and he
fielded all 11 chances successfully... in four games played, Settle has
fielded all 23 chances and is hitting .417 with three RBIs... freshman first
baseman Walter Olmstead is hitting .250 with one home run and six runs
batted in in 20 games played... outfielder Jeff Reed is hitting .292 with
two doubles and four RBIs... he reached base in all five plate appearances
against Fresno State (game three)... Greg Bratton is hitting .226...
sophomore shortstop Erick Macha is hitting .311 with a team-high six
triples, 10 doubles and nine stolen bases... Macha has a .959 fielding
percentage.
FROG HITTING NOTES
The Frogs are now second in the WAC in hitting with a .296 average... TCU
leads the league in doubles, triples and home runs... TCU has a team batting
average of .292 in the last 10 games... the Frogs hit .330 against Fresno
State (33-100) and .302 (29-96) against Hilo... the Frogs have reached
double figures in hits in four of the last six games... the Frogs have
outscored their opponent 57-53 in the last 10 games... TCU has been hit by a
pitch 51 times this season... Levi Groomer has been hit a single-season
school-record 21 times... in two seasons at TCU, Groomer has been hit 30
times... former catcher Mark Silva was hit a school-record 37 times in his
four-year career... TCU's four triples on April 8 against Fresno State tied
the school record for triples in a game... Erick Macha has six triples this
year and 11 in two seasons at TCU... record holder Brad Wallace had 14 in
his career... TCU is hitting .357 with the bases loaded and .286 with
runners in scoring position... in the who's hot /who's not department...
Mark Hamilton is hitting .474 (18-38) in the last 10 games... Marshall
Wilson is hitting .343 (12-35) with eight runs batted in and four walks in
the last 10 games... Erick Macha is hitting .341 (15-44) in the last 10
games... Macha has three doubles, three triples and a home run in the 10
games... Groomer is hitting .333 (8-24) with nine runs scored, four doubles
in his last seven games played... he has been hit five times in that span...
in the last 10 games, Jason Price is hitting .229 (8-35) and Shaun Wooley
is hitting .167 (3-18)... since returning to the lineup against Oklahoma,
Ramon Moses is hitting .111 (2-18)... Moses had missed the previous nine
games due to an eye injury... Mike Settle picked up his first career hit and
RBI with a single against the Sooners... Brad Rogers has the only two home
run game this year... he hit two in game two of TCU's doubleheader against
Texas Wesleyan...
WAC's Leading Hitter
Mark Hamilton continues to lead the team in virtually every offensive
category... Hamilton is hitting .474 (18-38) in the last 10 games with 11
RBIs... overall, Hamilton leads the team in average, at-bats, runs, hits,
doubles, home runs, runs batted in... he also has a team-leading 22
multi-hit games... Hamilton has hit safely in 35 of the 41 games this
season... he has reached base safely in 39 of the 41 games played... he has
already surpassed his 1999 season total for base hits... in WAC action,
Hamilton is hitting .478 (32-67) with 21 runs scored, five home runs and 21
runs batted in... Hamilton was named the WAC Player of the week after the
San Jose State series and the Hawaii-Hilo he is the only Frog to receive
the honor twice this season against San Jose State, Hamilton hit .625
(10-16) with seven runs scored, two doubles, two home runs and six runs
batted in... he hit .636 (7-11) against Hilo with three doubles, one triple
and a home run... Hamilton has a career batting average of .372.
PITCHING NOTES
Shawn Thompson has 54 strikeouts in 79.1 innings, raising his career total to
314... his 6 K's against Fresno State moved him past Scott Atchison's
record-setting total of 307... Thompson ranks second in innings pitched with
340.0 innings Thompson also has moved past Frank Johnstone into first in
career starts with 49... he has a career record of 20-20... Chris Bradshaw
is 3-2 with a 2.88 ERA in his last six starts... he has allowed 19 runs, 14
earned on 36 hits in 43.2 innings... David Tombrella has allowed seven
earned runs in his last 19.2 innings a span of seven games for an earned
run average of 4.29... the TCU pitching staff has allowed 46 runs in the
last 10 games, an earned run average of 4.70... opponents are hitting only
.257 in that span... Josh Gardner earned his first career win on Tuesday
against Tech.
