Baseball to Host Rice This Weekend
5/18/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The TCU Horned Frogs (21-31, 11-15) enter the final weekend of the 2000 season as they host WAC rival Rice (37-20, 16-10) in a four-game series, May 19-21, 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.
The Owls, ranked 25th by Collegiate Baseball, have won five straight games, including a three-game sweep of San Jose State last weekend. The Frogs have played 21 games against nationally ranked opponents, compiling a record of 7-14. TCU defeated Southwest Texas, 8-3, last Sunday at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock.
The Rice series will be the final collegiate games for five TCU seniors: Levi Groomer, Mark Hamilton, Brad Rogers, Shawn Thompson and Shaun Wooley.
103rd SEASON OF TCU BASEBALL
This is the 103rd edition of TCU baseball. The Frogs have an all-time mark
of 1501-1305-25 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 419-399. 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-RICE SERIES
When TCU and Rice begin play on Friday, it will be the 221st meeting between
the two teams...the Frogs lead in the overall series, 113-106-1... since the
two teams joined the WAC in 1997, Rice has won 13 of the 19 games between
the two schools... earlier this year, TCU and Rice split the rain-shortened
two-game series in Houston... the Frogs won the opener, 3-0, and the Owls
took game two, 12-3... this will be Rice's first trip to Fort Worth since
the 1998 season, when the Frogs lost two-of-three to Rice (4-10, 1-7,
11-4)... the last seven games played between TCU and Rice have been away
from the TCU Diamond... Lance Brown has a career record of 23-32 against
Rice., including a record of 14-10 at the TCU Diamond.
TRENDS
Thirty of the 52 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 1-3... TCU has a
record of 14-11 at home and 7-20 on the road (includes neutral sites)... TCU
has scored 303 runs this season, an average of 5.82 runs per game... in the
last 10 games, the Frogs have scored 55 runs, an average of 5.5 runs per
game... TCU has a record of 19-18 against righthanded starting pitchers and
2-13 against lefties... when TCU leads after 7 innings, they are 18-6... TCU
is 4-6 in night games... the Frogs have night wins at Hilo, Rice, San Jose
State and vs. Southwest Texas... 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, .281 with runners on base and .280 with runners
in scoring position.
FROG HITTING NOTES
In the last two years against Rice, the Frogs are hitting only .241 (49-203),
while the Owls are hitting .309 (68-220)... Erick Macha is hitting .231
(6-26) and Mark Hamilton is hitting .273 (6-22)... Levi Groomer leads TCU
with a batting average of .333 (6-18)... the Frogs are second in the WAC in
hitting with a .297 average and second in doubles... TCU leads the league in
triples and second in home runs... TCU has a team batting average of .299 in
the last 10 games... the Frogs hit .284 (29-102) against San Jose State,
.333 (34-102) against Hawaii and .271 (29-107) at Fresno State... last
Sunday, the Frogs hit .333 (11-33) against Southwest Texas... the Frogs have
reached double figures in hits in four of the last six games... TCU has been
hit by a pitch 64 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 ten
games... Groomer is hitting .486 (18-37) with four doubles, one triple,
three home runs, 12 runs batted in, seven runs scored, three walks and he
has been hit three times... his on-base percentage is .558... Tom Bates is
hitting .412 (14-34) with six doubles, one triple, three home runs and
seven runs scored... Erick Macha is hitting .378 (17-45) with five runs, two
doubles, two triples and an inside the park home run... Rudy Rivera is
hitting .323 (10-31)... Mark Hamilton, the WAC's leading hitter, is
struggling in the last nine contests... he has only five hits in the last
28 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 .100 (1-10) 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 10 earned runs in
his last 19.1 innings, an earned run average of 4.65... Tombrella has walked
13 men and struck out six in his last four starts... Thompson has a career
record of 1-1 against Rice with an ERA of 5.59... he has allowed 23 earned
runs and struck out 35 in 37 innings (five games)... Bradshaw is 2-0 in
three outings against Rice... in 15.1 innings, he has allowed six runs, an
ERA of 3.52.
DIAMOND NOTES
The Frogs are 7-15 against nationally ranked opponents... Erick Macha is
ranked among the national leaders in triples... Macha has committed only two
errors in WAC play... four of TCU's last 12 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.
