Baseball Game Notes: TCU/Hawaii
4/26/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Hawai`i * Thursday, April 27 * 2:35 p.m. * TCU Diamond * Fort Worth
Hawai`i * Friday, April 28 * 2:35 p.m. * TCU Diamond * Fort Worth
Hawai`i * Saturday, April 29 * 1:05 p.m. * TCU Diamond * Fort Worth
KTCU 88.7 FM (Chuck LaMendola)
FROGS RETURN TO TCU DIAMOND, HOST RAINBOWS
The TCU Horned Frogs (18-27, 9-11) return to the TCU Diamond this week to
host the Hawai`i Rainbows (22-25, 9-12) in a three-game Western Athletic
Conference series. Last weekend, TCU dropped two of three at San Jose State,
while the Rainbows were swept by the Rice Owls in Houston. The Frogs have
only 11 games remaining this season, seven at the TCU Diamond. This will be
the second series this year between the two teams. Since the teams last met
in early March, the Frogs have a record of 11-9.
103rd SEASON OF TCU BASEBALL
This is the 103rd edition of TCU baseball. The Frogs have an all-time mark
of 1498-1301-25 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 two
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 416-395. 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 61-47-0, 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 24-31. This season, TCU is
6-3 at home in WAC play and 3-7 on the road.
TCU-HAWAII SERIES
When TCU and Hawaii begin play on Thursday, it will be the 12th meeting
between the two teams...the Frogs trail in the overall series,
7-4-0...earlier this year, Hawaii swept TCU in a three game series, winning
6-2, 6-3 and 14-6... TCU had only 21 hits in the entire series, while the
Rainbows had 38 hits, including 20 in the finale of the series... Mark
Hamilton led the Frogs with a .400 average (4-10)... Ramon Moses and Erick
Macha each hit .364 (4-11)... Mickey Scala was the only Frog to drive in
more than one run in the entire series... Scala drove in two runs on two
hits... as a team, the Frogs hit .214 with three doubles and a triple...
Chris Bradshaw allowed only one earned run in 7.0 innings... he allowed
seven hits, three walks and four K's... Shawn Thompson allowed six runs,
five earned in 6.0 innings... last season, TCU won all five meetings between
the two teams, including a three-game sweep in Fort Worth (6-5, 10-0,
8-7)... TCU also defeated the Rainbows twice in the WAC tournament (9-5,
12-10).
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. Saturday's contest will be televised on a tape-delayed basis by
CCTV Channel 45.
FROGS DROP TWO-OF-THREE TO SPARTANS
San Jose State took two of three from the Frogs, winning the first and third
games of the series... in the opener, San Jose State outscored TCU, 11-6...
the Spartans scored eight runs on 10 hits in 3.1 innings off of TCU starter
Chris Bradshaw... the Frogs rallied late, scoring three runs in the sixth
and one in the seventh, closing the San Jose lead to 8-6... in the second
game, TCU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, scoring once in the first and
twice in the second... the Spartans scored single runs in the second and
third innings to reduce the TCU lead to 3-2... Shawn Thompson allowed four
runs, three earned on eight hits in 6.0 innings... Stan Newton pitched the
final three innings, allowing one run to earn his third save... Levi Groomer
drove in two runs on two hits, including a triple... Mark Hamilton singled
twice and walked twice... Erick Macha singled and walked twice... Tom Bates,
Shaun Wooley and Brad Rogers each had two hits... Bates also reached twice
on errors... in the finale, David Tombrella held the Spartans scoreless for
the first 5.2 innings... SJSU's Brandon Macchi's two-out home run in the
sixth was all the runs San Jose needed.... Tim Adinolfi pitched a complete
game shutout, holding the Frogs to five hits and a walk... the Frogs had
only two runners reach second base in the game... Rudy Rivera had two of
TCU's five hits... the Spartans broke the game open in the 8th, scoring four
unearned runs on three hits and two Horned Frog errors... Tombrella
scattered six hits in 7.0 innings, allowing three runs, one earned... the
shutout was the first this season against TCU.
TRENDS
Twenty five of the 45 games this season have been decided by three runs or
less... the Frogs have a record of 11-14 in the 25 games... TCU has a record
of 4-4 in one-run contests, 4-2 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
6-6 in April... TCU has a record of 12-10 at home and 6-17 on the road
(includes neutral sites)... TCU has scored 261 runs this season, an average
of 5.8 runs per game... in the last 10 games, the Frogs have scored 57 runs,
an average of 5.7 runs per game... after 45 games, TCU has a record of 17-14
against righthanded pitchers and 1-13 against lefties... when TCU leads
after 7 innings, they are 15-5... TCU is 3-4 in night games... the Frogs
have night wins at Hilo, Rice and San Jose State... TCU has three night
games left on the schedule, two at Fresno State and one in Round Rock... TCU
is 9-3 in games they do not commit an error.
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 .305 in the last nine games... the Frogs hit .330 against Fresno
State (33-100), .302 (29-96) against Hilo and .284 (29-102) against San Jose
State... the Frogs have reached double figures in hits in five of the last
seven games... the Frogs have outscored their opponent 55-52 in the last 9
games... TCU has been hit by a pitch 53 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 .412 with the
bases loaded and .301 with runners in scoring position... in the who's hot
/who's not department... Mark Hamilton is hitting .387 (12-31) in the last
9 games... Marshall Wilson is hitting .350 (7-20) with six runs batted in
and four walks in the last six games played... Wilson did not play in the
San Jose State series... Erick Macha is hitting .359 (14-39) in the last
nine games... Macha has three doubles, two triples and a home run in the
nine games... Groomer is hitting .286 (6-21) with six runs scored, three
doubles in his last seven games played... he has been hit three times in
that span... in the last nine games, Ramon Moses is hitting .167 (3-18)
and Cade Harris is hitting .214 (3014)... 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 .387 (12-31) in the last nine games with 10
RBIs... overall, Hamilton leads the team in average, at-bats, runs, hits,
home runs, runs batted in and walks... he also has a team-leading 23
multi-hit games... Hamilton has hit safely in 37 of the 44 games he has
played in this season... he has reached base safely in 41 of the 44 games
played... he has already surpassed his 1999 season total for base hits... in
WAC action, Hamilton is hitting .442 (34-77) with 23 runs scored, five home
runs and 22 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 .371.
PITCHING NOTES
Shawn Thompson has 60 strikeouts in 85.1 innings, raising his career total to
320... his 6 K's against Fresno State (Apr. 8) moved him past Scott
Atchison's record-setting total of 307... Thompson ranks second in innings
pitched with 346.0 innings Thompson also has moved past Frank Johnstone
into first in career starts with 50... he has a career record of 21-20...
his 21 career wins is tied for third with Reuben Tomlin... Chris Bradshaw
is 1-2 in his last three starts... he has allowed 17 earned runs in 19.1
innings... David Tombrella has allowed eight earned runs in his last 26.2
innings a span of eight games for an earned run average of 2.69... the
TCU pitching staff has allowed 40 runs in the last nine games, an earned run
average of 4.56... opponents are hitting .282 in that span.
