Baseball Frogs Enter Final Week of the Season
5/12/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sunday, May 14 * 7 p.m. * Dell Diamond * Round Rock
Rice
Friday, May 19 * 2:35 p.m. * TCU Diamond * Fort Worth
Saturday, May 20 * 12:05 p.m. (DH) * TCU Diamond * Fort Worth
Sunday, May 21 * 1:05 p.m. * TCU Diamond * Fort Worth
KTCU 88.7 FM (Chuck LaMendola)
The TCU Horned Frogs (20-31) enter the final week of the 2000 season as they travel to Round Rock to face Southwest Texas State in a non-conference game. The single-game will be played at the new Dell Diamond, home of the Round Rock Express, the Class AA affiliate of the Houston Astros. TCU will be the designated home team against Southwest Texas. Tickets for the game are $5 and they are available through the Round Rock Express Ticket office at 512-255-2255. Former TCU pitcher Reid Ryan is the President of the Round Rock Express.
Beginning Friday, May 19, the Frogs will host WAC rival Rice in a four-game series at the TCU Diamond. TCU and Rice will play single games on Friday and Sunday, and a doubleheader on Saturday. Game three of the TCU-Rice series in Houston was rained out, thus the four-game set in Fort Worth. There is not a WAC Post Season Tournament this year.
103rd SEASON OF TCU BASEBALL
This is the 103rd edition of TCU baseball. The Frogs have an all-time mark
of 1500-1305-25 for a winning percentage of .538. The Frogs achieved two
milestones this season, both against Hawaii. The March 10th contest at
Hawai`i was the 2800th baseball game in TCU history and the 7-1 win over the
Rainbows on April 28 was TCU's 1500th win.
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 418-399. 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 63-51-0, 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 39-17 in home conference games.
On the road, the Frogs have compiled a record of 24-34. This season, TCU is
8-4 at home in WAC play and 3-11 on the road.
TCU-SOUTHWEST TEXAS STATE SERIES
When TCU and Southwest Texas begin play on Sunday, it will be the 20th
meeting between the two teams...the Frogs lead in the overall series,
13-6-0... earlier this year, Southwest Texas defeated TCU twice in a three
game series... TCU won the opener, 6-3, then dropped the final two games by
scores of 9-6 (14 innings) and 15-5... SWT has played all seven of the
former members of the Southwest Conference this season, compiling a record
of 6-12... they split a two game series with Rice, May 10-11... in the
first series, TCU hit only .229 (24-105) and recorded a 5.40 ERA... Ramon
Moses led the Frogs with a .556 average (5-9), David Tombrella earned his
first collegiate win, pitching 2.2 scoreless innings in relief.
TRENDS
Thirty of the 51 games this season have been decided by three runs or less...
the Frogs have a record of 12-18 in the 30 games... TCU has a record of 4-7
in one-run contests, 4-2 in two-run games and 4-8 in games decided by three
runs... the Frogs are now 17-19 in one-run games over the last three
seasons... the Frogs ended the month of March with a record of 8-8 and they
were 7-7 in April... in the month of May, the Frogs are 0-3... TCU has a
record of 14-11 at home and 6-20 on the road (includes neutral sites)... TCU
has scored 278 runs this season, an average of 5.8 runs per game... in the
last 15 games, the Frogs have scored 89 runs, an average of 5.9 runs per
game... TCU has a record of 18-18 against righthanded starting pitchers and
2-13 against lefties... when TCU leads after 7 innings, they are 17-6... TCU
is 3-6 in night games... the Frogs have night wins at Hilo, Rice and San
Jose State... the game against Southwest Texas will be the final night game
of the season... TCU is 11-4 in games they do not commit an error... TCU has
been outscored 46-13 in the eighth inning... TCU is hitting .385 with the
bases loaded, .280 with runners on base and .283 with runners in scoring
position.
FROG HITTING NOTES
The Frogs are second in the WAC in hitting with a .296 average and second in
doubles... TCU leads the league in home runs and triples... TCU has a team
batting average of .296 in the last nine games... the Frogs hit .284
(29-102) against San Jose State, .333 (34-102) against Hawaii and .271
(29-107) at Fresno State... the Frogs have reached double figures in hits in
only three of the last seven games... the Frogs have been outscored by their
opponent 52-47 in the last nine games... TCU has been hit by a pitch 62
times this season... Levi Groomer has been hit a single-season school-record
24 times... Groomer's school-record total is tied for 13th in NCAA
history... the next time he is hit, he will move into a tie for 8th... in
two seasons at TCU, Groomer has been hit 33 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 eight triples this year and 13 in two seasons
at TCU... record holder Brad Wallace had 14 in his career... Macha is tied
for second in both career triples and single-season triples... in the who's
hot / who's not department over the last nine games... Groomer is hitting
.469 (15-32) with three doubles, one triple, three home runs, five runs
scored, three walks and he has been hit three times times... his on-base
percentage is .553... Tom Bates is hitting .412 (14-34) with six doubles,
one triple, three home runs and seven runs scored... Erick Macha is hitting
.400 (16-40) with five runs, one double, two triples and an inside the park
home run... Rudy Rivera is hitting .310 (9-29)... Mark Hamilton, the WAC's
leading hitter, is struggling in the last nine contests... he has only five
hits in the last 26 at-bats, dropping his average to a season-low .381...
he has walked nine times and been hit three times in the last nine games...
Hamilton leads the team in multi-hit games with 24... Jeff Reed is hitting
.111 (1-9) and Marshall Wilson is hitting .143 (3-21) in the last nine
games...
PITCHING NOTES
Shawn Thompson has 69 strikeouts in 101.1 innings, raising his career total
to 329... 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 362.0 innings... Frank Johnstone owns the record for career
innings pitched with 378.0 innings... in the WAC record books, Thompson
ranks eighth in career innings pitched... Thompson also has moved past Frank
Johnstone into first in career starts with 52... he has a career record of
22-20... his 22 career wins ranks third... Thompson has won his last three
decisions, picking up wins over Hilo, San Jose State and Hawaii... he did
not earn a decision at Fresno State... he has allowed nine earned runs in
31.0 innings pitched, an earned run average of 2.61... Chris Bradshaw is
1-2 with a 8.04 earned run average in his last three starts... he has
allowed 15 earned runs in 15.2 innings and opponents are hitting .382
against him in that span... David Tombrella has allowed eight earned runs
in his last 14.1 innings, an earned run average of 5.02... Tombrella has
walked 10 men and struck out only four in his last three starts... Chad
Durham made one appearance at Fresno State, his first outing since the Frogs
faced Fresno State series in Fort Worth.
DIAMOND NOTES
The Frogs are 6-14 against teams currently ranked in one of the three top-25
polls... Erick Macha is ranked among the national leaders in triples...
Macha has committed only two errors in WAC play... four of TCU's last 11
games have been played in two hours or less... in TCU's April 14th win over
Hilo, the Frogs won in 1:51... all four of the games were nine-inning
contests... in WAC action, the Frogs are 7-8 in games decided by three runs
or less and 4-7 in games decided by five runs or more.
