No. 22 TCU Set For Season Opener Friday Night
2/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 10, 2005
Fort Worth, Texas - The 2005 Horned Frog baseball team will kick off the season on Friday night when they host future Mountain West Conference foe, Utah, to Lupton Stadium. Friday night's game is the first of three between the schools on the weekend; the Frogs and the Utes will face off again on Saturday beginning at 2:00 p.m. and Sunday beginning at 1:00 p.m. Friday's first pitch is slated to begin at 7:00 p.m. Lance Broadway will get the call on the mound for opening day.
Frogs On KTCU
Due to women's basketball playing at Marquette, Friday night's season opener will be joined in progress following the completion of the Lady Frogs game against the Golden Eagles. A complete broadcast of the game will be aired immediately following the completion of the baseball game.
About The Series
The Horned Frogs open at home for the third straight season and are looking for their second-consecutive season opening victory. Last season, TCU defeated Dallas Baptist 13-12 in extra innings to snap a two-game season-opener losing streak. A year ago, the Frogs posted an 11-4 record in series openers, including a 3-1 record against non-conference opponents. Dating back to 1966, TCU is 28-11 in season openers. The Frogs will be at a slight disadvantage against the Utes as Utah comes in with three games under its belt after opening the season last weekend on the road at Santa Clara.
The Utes Last Time Out
The Utes open up the season with 14 straight games on the road, the first three coming against Santa Clara. Utah was swept by the Broncos, by scores of 5-4, 5-3 and 6-3. Defense was the downfall of the Utes over the weekend as they committed four errors that led to four unearned runs. The errors cost them in Friday's opener as they gave up two unearned runs in a 5-4 loss. For the Utes, designate hitter Joe Mozeleski has been the hottest hitter to open the season as he's hitting an even .500 coming into the weekend. John Welsh has driven in three runs so far this season, two of them coming in a 6-3 loss on Sunday. The bullpen has also been suspect this far as they picked up two of the three losses to open up the season. They had a good showing on Sunday after the Bronchos picked up six runs in the first four innings. The bullpen was able to keep them down, but the Ute offense was unable to complete the comeback.
TCU vs. Utah Base Knocks
• Friday's contest will mark the 8th meeting all-time between TCU and Utah.
• TCU holds a 6-1 all-time advantage against Utah.
• The Frogs and the Utes are former Western Athletic Conference (WAC) foes. The teams squared off as league opponents for two seasons (1998-1999).
• TCU swept the first-ever series against Utah in 1998, winning all four meetings. Utah spoiled the Frogs bid for a second-consecutive sweep by winning game three in 1999. All seven games have been played in Fort Worth.
• TCU and Utah will once again be conference foes beginning next season when TCU joins the Mountain West Conference.
• Jim Schlossnagle spent his first two seasons as a head coach in the MWC as the head man at UNLV. In his two seasons, Schlossnagle was 9-5 against the Utes.
The Weekend Match-ups
Getting the opening day start for TCU this season is Dallas Baptist transfer, Lance Broadway. Broadway comes to TCU with outstanding credentials, pitching DBU to NCCAA National Championships as a freshman and sophomore. Last season, Broadway emerged as the ace of the Patriot staff, compiling a 10-2 record in 108.2 innings pitched. He led the staff with 102 strikeouts, while walking just 33 in 17 appearances.
Broadway will face off against the Utes only returning pitcher from 2004, Jason Price. Price was 4-8 a year ago with s 5.73 ERA and 102 Ks. Price picked up a no-decision in his first start going five innings, allowing three runs on five hits, picking up two strikeouts.
Stepping to the mound for his first collegiate appearance on Saturday will be freshman Sam Demel. Demel comes to TCU following an outstanding prep career at Spring High School. Demel was a highly sought after prospect following his senior season. He was drafted in the 35th round of the June draft by the Texas Rangers. Texas Baseball News ranked Demel as the 11th top recruit out of the state of Texas.
Facing Demel from Utah will be newcomer Chad Cullers. Cullers is a transfer from Lamar CC where he was a first-team all-region performer. Cullers went three innings in his first start, allowing a run on two hits in the no-decision.
Stepping to the mound on Sunday will be senior Tim McGough. McGough is almost two years removed from "Tommy John" surgery and looks to return to his old form. He saw limited action on the mound last season as he was completing his rehab, posting a 1-2 record with one save in 12.1 innings pitched.
For the Utes, Matt Crockett will take the mound. Last season at New Orleans, Crockett was 5-4 with a 5.66 ERA. Crockett suffered the lass after allowing five runs, three earned in 2.1 innings pitched against Santa Clara.
Preseason Honors For Ford And Huffman
Infielder Shelby Ford has found himself the recipient of some early preseason recognition following a successful freshman campaign in which he earned numerous accolades, including Freshman all-American honors from Louisville Slugger and Baseball America. The second-team all-conference performer was named to the NCBWA third-team preseason all-American team. He is one of just three C-USA players to be honored.
Along with the all-American recognition, Ford was named to the second-annual Brooks Wallace Award watch list. The award is given annually to the nation's top collegiate baseball player. Ford is one of 58 athletes to be recognized on the list. Three other Conference USA player's were also recognized on the watch list.
Infielder Chad Huffman, the Conference USA Freshman of the Year last season, has also been honored this preseason as he was named a second-team preseason all-American by Louisville Slugger. Huffman led the Frogs last season with a .383 batting average.
Home Field Advantage
The Horned Frogs have the luxury of playing in a state-of-the-art facility in Lupton Stadium. TCU has made the best of their home field, recording at least 20 wins in each of their two seasons in the stadium. Overall, TCU owns a 41-18 (.694) record in the ballpark. This season, the Frogs will play a total of 31 regular season games at Lupton.
Fans Come Out To See The Frogs
TCU ranked 44th in the country in total attendance and in average attendance in 2004. For 28 home dates, 34,657 fans entered the ballpark for an average of 1,237 per game. The Frogs highest attendance was 2,113 against Baylor on April 27. The Frogs were also treated to good crowds away from home as they played in front of 32,111 on the road and 20,535 at neutral sites. On the season, an average of 1,385 fans watched each game the Frogs played.
The Long Ball
Last season, the Frogs used the long ball to their advantage, blasting 73 balls out of the park, falling just three shy of tying the single season record set back in 1998. Shelby Ford led all Frogs with 16 round-trippers. TCU ranked third in the league behind East Carolina and Southern Miss. The Frogs were 26-12 (.684) in games that they hit a home run. The most impressive number comes off the bats of the freshmen who contributed 37 home runs last season.
Loaded Schedule
The Frogs will play a challenging schedule this season that features teams from seven different leagues and five games against Independent teams. Of the 21 teams the Frogs will square off against, seven of them were tournament teams, while two of them reached the Super Regionals. TCU will play 11 teams that finished with a record above .500. The schedule also features a three-game series against the nation's preseason No. 1, as selected by Baseball America, Tulane.
Frogs Go Pollin'
This preseason marks a historical one for the Frogs as they are ranked in the top 25 in three of the four polls and in the top 50 in the fourth major poll. Baseball America has ranked the Frogs the highest so far this preseason as they debuted at No. 21. The NCBWA has ranked the Frogs No. 22, while ESPN/Sports Weekly has ranked them No. 25. Collegiate Baseball ranked TCU No. 37. The Frogs have only ever received votes to open a season.
Revamped Starting Rotation
The Frogs lost all three of their weekend starters from a year ago, but have reloaded with a pair of talented transfers and one highly touted freshman. Lance Broadway, Brad Furnish and Sam Demel have emerged as the front runners to fill the voids left by the graduation of Clayton Jerome, Eugene Espineli and Ryan Weems.
Strong Returning Nucleus
The Frogs return a majority of the lineup that led them to a NCAA Regional berth. TCU loses only two everyday players in Chris Neuman and Ramon Moses, but returns six hitters that saw a majority of the time in the field. The top three hitters from a year ago are back as well as the teams' top home run threat. The group of six hit .305 on the season and clubbed 50 home runs.
Finishing Strong
The Frogs finished 2004 on a strong note, winning 10 of their last 14 games, including a stretch of five games in a row that won them the Conference USA Tournament championship, the first ever in TCU baseball history. The Frogs bats came alive at the right time as they pounded out 121 hits, an average of 8.64 hits per game and scored 82 runs an average of 5.85 per game. On the season the Frogs averaged 10.1 hits per game and 6.57 runs per game.
Broadway Shines In The Northwoods League
Following a successful season at Dallas Baptist a year ago, Lance Broadway made a name for himself in the Northwoods League during the summer playing for the Wisconsin Woodchucks. Broadway led the league in ERA (1.80) and strikeouts (95) in just 65 innings pitched. Baseball America tabbed him as the league's No. 1 Draft prospect following the completion of the summer season. He was named to the Northwoods League all-star game where he pitched a hitless inning. Overall, he was 5-1 before shutting it down after the all-star break. In its early rankings of collegiate players eligible for the draft, Baseball America has ranked Broadway as the 45th top prospect for the upcoming 2005 draft in June.
