TCU Travels to Round Rock
2/9/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The TCU Horned Frogs will travel to Round Rock this weekend to participate in the Express College Classic. The three-day classic will be hosted by the Round Rock Express at the Dell Diamond, the home of the Houston Astros AA affiliate. TCU (3-3) will face Kansas (Feb. 9), Charlotte (Feb. 10) and Southwest Texas (Feb. 11) in the inaugural event. Charlotte and Southwest Texas open the tournament with a 2 p.m. game on Friday.
104th SEASON OF TCU BASEBALL
This is the 104th edition of TCU baseball. The Frogs have an all-time mark
of 1505-1310-25 for a winning percentage of .534. The Frogs are in their
fifth and final season in the WAC. Last year, the Frogs recorded a 22-34
win-loss mark, including a 12-18 record in conference play. Next season, TCU
will become a member of Conference USA.
HEAD COACH LANCE BROWN
The 2001 Horned Frogs are under the guidance of head coach Lance Brown (TCU,
1967). Brown, TCU's all-time winningest coach, has a record of 423-405. He
is assisted by Donnie Watson, Barry Takahashi and Tom Hardgrove.
TCU-KANSAS SERIES
This will be the third meeting between the two schools... the Frogs lead the
overall series, 2-0-0... the two teams last met in the 1990 season, when TCU
defeated KU, 5-4 and 4-3... the game against Kansas is TCU's fourth contest
this season against a member of the Big 12 conference.
TCU-CHARLOTTE SERIES
This will be the first meeting between the two schools... beginning next
season, TCU and Charlotte will play on an annual basis as members of
Conference USA... Charlotte is the only C-USA team on the 2001 TCU baseball
schedule... prior to this season, the Frogs have faced only four members of
C-USA, recording a record of 35-48-2... the Frogs have played Houston
(31-42-2), Memphis (2-0), Southern Miss (0-6) and Tulane (2-0).
TCU-SOUTHWEST TEXAS SERIES
This will be the 21st meeting between the two schools, and the second at the
Dell Diamond... the Frogs lead the overall series, 14-6-0... last season,
the two teams split four games with Southwest Texas winning twice in Fort
Worth... TCU won the opener, 6-3, then dropped the final two games, 9-6 (14
innings) and 15-5... TCU defeated SWT, 8-3, in the first NCAA D-I baseball
game at the new Dell Diamond... David Tombrella earned both wins against
SWT, allowing two earned runs in 7.2 innings... Chad Durham made three
appearances, recording a save in TCU's 6-3 decision... Durham struck out 11
in five innings... as a team, TCU recorded a 4.85 earned run average, while
the Bobcats posted a 5.11 ERA... however, TCU was outhit by SWT as the Frogs
hit only .254, while SWT hit .319... Ramon Moses led the Frogs with a .556
average (5-9) with a double and a home run... Jason Price hit .357 (5-14)
with five RBIs... Erick Macha hit .286, but he also walked five times...
the teams are scheduled to play a single game on March 7.
GAME COVERAGE
The first two games this weekend will not be carried, but the Southwest Texas
contest can be heard on KTCU (88.7 FM) with Chuck LaMendola calling all the
action. TCU fans can access the radio broadcast of any TCU game from
anywhere in the world via the internet at www.ktcu.edu. The TCU pregame show
will begin 15 minutes before the first pitch of every TCU game.
PROFESSIONAL BALLPARKS
This season, TCU will play a total of seven regular-season games in
professional ballparks. Last weekend, the Frogs played three games at Enron
Field in Houston. After the three games at Dell Diamond in Round Rock (Feb.
9-11), the Frogs will still have one game remaining at a major league
ballpark, the annual Battle at The Ballpark in Arlington (Apr. 17) against
the Texas Longhorns. TCU had never played at Enron Field, but they have
played games at both Dell Diamond and The Ballpark. TCU has a 1-0 record at
Dell Diamond, and a 2-5 win-loss mark at The Ballpark.
MISSOURI SOUTHERN RECAP
Missouri Southern scored seven times in the fourth inning to knock off TCU,
9-6, Wednesday at the TCU Diamond... in the inning, the Lions came up with
six hits and took advantage of two TCU errors, erasing a 4-1 TCU lead...
Mike Settle led the Frogs with two doubles and three runs batted in...
Missouri Southern outhit TCU, 14-8.
ASTROS COLLEGE CLASSIC RECAP
TCU won only one game in the Astros College Classic, but they picked the
right opponent, beating longtime rival Texas, 2-1... the Frogs lost a
one-run game to Texas Tech (5-4) and 12-4 to Baylor... Walter Olmstead
earned All-Tournament honors for the Frogs, hitting .417 with four extra
base hits... Olmstead was also named the WAC Player of the week after his
performance... Clayton Jerome earned the win over Texas, pitching four
scoreless innings...the win over Texas ended a three-game losing streak to
the Horns... Jared Lundeen hit .400 (4-10) and Erick Macha hit .357 (5-14)
for TCU... as a team, the Frogs hit .276 with nine extra base hits...
opponents hit only .240 in the tournament with seven extra base hits...
Jerome led TCU with six scoreless innings pitched in two relief
appearances... Chris Bradshaw allowed only two hits with seven strikeouts in
five innings pitched against Texas Tech... Chad Durham pitched five innings
against Texas, allowing one run on two hits... the Frogs walked seven and
hit eight batters in the three games... TCU is now 1-2 in three games played
against former SWC rivals... the Frogs still must play 1o more games against
former members of the SWC.
TOUGH SCHEDULE
Including this weekend, the Frogs will play a total of 11 games this season
against members of the Big 12 conference... TCU will face Texas Tech (3
games), Baylor (1 game), Texas (3 games), Kansas (1 game), Oklahoma (2
games) and Iowa State (1 game)... thus far, the Frogs are 1-2 against the
Big 12... the Frogs are scheduled to play 35 games against teams that
participated in the 2000 NCAA baseball tournament... 24 of the 35 games are
against WAC opponents... Rice, Fresno State, San Jose State and new member
Nevada all advanced to the NCAA Regionals... San Jose reached the College
World Series... the 11 non-conference games are against Texas Tech, Baylor,
Texas, Southwest Texas and Oklahoma.
PLAYER NOTES
Walter Olmstead was named the WAC Player of the week for the week of January
30-February 4... in the doubleheader sweep of Prairie View A&M, Walter
Olmstead had seven RBIs... last season, Olmstead drove in seven runs all
year... he then hit .417 in the Astros College Classic... Olmstead was 1-5
against Missouri Southern, extending his hitting streak to six games...
Erick Macha had one triple last weekend, raising his career total to 14...
he is now tied with Brad Wallace for first in career triples... sophomore
third baseman Mike Settle leads the team in multi-RBI games with three... he
is second on the team in RBIs with nine, one behind Olmstead... last season,
Settle drove in three runs in six games played... he has now hit safely in
the last five games... outfielder Tom Bates has already walked four times...
last season, he walked three times in 157 plate appearances... Chris
Bradshaw has allowed only one earned run in his first two starts of the
season... he has struck out nine in eight innings... freshman reliever
Clayton Jerome has struck out eight in eight innings... he recorded a win
over Texas last weekend... senior outfielder Marshall Wilson will redshirt
this season... Wilson had shoulder surgery on Friday, Feb. 9.
WAC NOTES
Western Athletic Conference play opens this weekend with Nevada travelling to
Hawaii to face Hilo in a three-game set... TCU will open league play on
Saturday, February 17, when they start a three-game series against
Hawai`i-Hilo... for the fourth consecutive season, the Western Athletic
Conference will operate under a new format in conference play... with the
addition of Nevada to the league, each team will play a double round-robin
schedule for a total of 36 conference game... the league will consist of
TCU, Rice, Nevada, San Jose State, Fresno State, Hawai`i and Hawai`i-Hilo...
SMU, UTEP and Tulsa do not play baseball.
