Frogs poised for run in Mountain West Tournament
5/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 23, 2006
FORT WORTH, Texas - Riding a seven-game winning streak, the TCU Horned Frogs postseason hopes ride on the next four days as they open up play in the Mountain West Tournament Wednesday night in Las Vegas. By virtue of winning the regular season, the Frogs received a first-round bye and will face the tournament's fifth-seeded team, New Mexico, who defeated UNLV on Tuesday night. Game time for Wednesday is set for 9:30 p.m. (CST).Frogs on the Internet
Baseball fans unable to make it to Las Vegas this week can follow the game live on Gametracker or listen to the game on KTCU 88.7 FM on the radio or the Internet. Chuck LaMendola will call all the action live from the ballpark.
About the Tournament
The Frogs head into the Mountain West Postseason Tournament on a roll. They have seven straight, including a road series sweep of New Mexico this past weekend. The Frogs have played the last half of the season gearing up for a run through the tournament. It is likely their only hope of securing their third straight bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Frogs will have the easiest route in the tournament thanks to finishing first in the regular season. With a seven-team league, the first place finisher has a bye in the first round and would need to win just three games to capture the tournament title, while the others need at least four games.
About The Frogs
TCU comes into the weekend on a tear; they have won its last seven games in a row and nine of 11 in the month of May. The Frogs most recent victim was New Mexico. They got the job done in all three phases of the game. The only struggle was a few hiccups out of the bullpen. They were clicking on cylinders, hitting .437 as a team in the three-game series, pitching to the tune of a 5.33 ERA and fielding at a .992 clip.
Offensively, the Frogs bats were on fire. Matt Carpenter was the leading hitter with a .667 average. He had at least two hits in all three games and finished with eight on the weekend. Corey Steglich was right behind him with a .636 average. His hit streak has extended to 13 games. With a flare for the dramatic, Steglich's second home run of the season helped lead the Frogs to victory in Saturday's 8-6 win. Chad Huffman's bat remains one of the hottest in the league. He added two more home runs to his career-high and now has 15. He drove in four runs in each of the first two games as the Frogs routed the Lobos. Also having a strong weekend was Steven Trout, who tallied five hits in 11 at-bats. Austin Adams, Keith Conlon and Hunt Woodruff also hit at least .400 on the weekend. Woodruff picked up his first career home run in Thursday's 15-2 win.
On the mound, Jake Arrieta and Brad Furnish were almost untouchable. Arrieta used just 59 pitches to get through six innings as he allowed just two hits. Furnish tossed five scoreless innings, also allowing just two hits. Dillon Farish continues to thrive out of the bullpen as he tossed 3.2 innings of scoreless ball for TCU. In his first action since the Utah series, Sam Demel earned his fifth save of the season with a three-inning stint on Thursday.
Defensively, the Frogs committed just one error, that coming in the ninth inning of a 15-2 win on Thursday. They turned seven double plays in the three game series and limited the Lobos to just one stolen base on the weekend.
About The Lobos
The Lobos are limping into the conference tournament, losing seven straight, prior to Tuesday's win and 14 of their last 16. The Frogs swept the Lobos last weekend as they took advantage of a struggling Lobo bullpen. Offensively, they are a good hitting team with a .318 batting average, but the pitchers have struggled on the mound. They have a team ERA of 6.75 and opponents are hitting .329 off of them. Danny Ray Herrera is the bright spot on the team as he is a perfect 10-0 with an ERA just over two. They are a good fielding team with a .969 fielding percentage on the season. The Frogs are 3-0 against the Lobos in 2006.
TCU and Conference Tournament Base Knocks
• The Frogs have an eight game winning streak in conference tournaments dating back to the 2004 campaign when they won their last five games of the Conference USA Tournament in Houston.
• TCU is 8-1 all-time under Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle in conference tournaments.
• TCU has won two straight conference tournaments. In 2004, the Frogs were the outright champions and in 2005, the Frogs shared the title with Tulane.
• Jim Schlossnagle has won three straight conference tournament championships as he led the UNLV Rebels to the title in 2003.
• The Frogs are 14-13 all-time in conference tournaments.
• Jim Schlossnagle is 13-3 overall in conference tournaments.
