Frogs begin defense of Mountain West Crown Friday
3/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 16, 2007
FORT WORTH, Texas - The No. 28 TCU Horned Frogs will begin defense of their Mountain West Conference Championship when they host Air Force in a three-game series at Lupton Stadium. Friday's opener is slated for a 6:30 p.m. start.Frogs on the Internet
Baseball fans unable to make it to Lupton Stadium this weekend can follow the game live on Gametracker or listen to the game on the Internet. Chuck LaMendola will call all the action live from the ballpark. The game is also available via webstreaming through the All-Access page on gofrogs.com.
TCU NOTABLES
• The Frogs went 1-2 in the Whataburger College Classic and are 2-2 in the last four.
• Keith Conlon was the lone Frog on the all-tournament team.
• The Frogs rebounded with an 11-5 win over UTA on Tuesday night,
• Tyler Lockwood earned his first career win on Tuesday night.
• Andrew Walker hit his first home run of the season on Tuesday.
• The Frogs committed just four errors in the last four games.
LUPTON STADIUM NOTES
• TCU is 71-24 at home under Schlossnagle.
• It owns an all-time record of 92-33 since Lupton opened in 2003.
• TCU has won 12 straight home games entering Wednesday night.
• TCU has recorded 13 series sweeps at Lupton.
AIR FORCE NOTABLES
• Air Force was picked to finish seventh in the league this season.
• They have five wins on the season, including a sweep of Kansas Wesleyan.
• Wright State swept a four-game series from the Falcons in Colorado last weekend.
• The Falcons are hitting just .246 as a team and pitching to the tune of a 7.39 ERA.
• They have committed 41 errors in 20 games for a .946 fielding percentage.
• Air Force has tallied 36 stolen bases.
SERIES BASE KNOCKS
• TCU has won eight straight contests against the Falcons dating back to 1997.
• This is the first of two series between the teams this season.
• TCU leads the all-time series 10-1, making this the 12th meeting all-time.
• Jim Schlossnagle 14-3 all-time against Air Force.
THE STARTERS
Friday: Jake Arrieta (3-2, 3.60) vs. Alex Truesdale (0-2, 3.96)
Saturday: Chance Corgan (2-1, 3.7) vs. Mitch Brown (1-4, 4.40)
Sunday: Chris Johnson (2-2, 5.68) vs. Jake Petro (2-3, 4.56)
A LOOK AT THE FROGS AND THE MWC
• TCU claimed its first regular season title since 1994 with a 17-5 mark in MWC play a year ago.
• TCU won its conference opener last season, a 9-4 win over BYU.
• Five Frogs were named first-team all-conference, four of which returned this season.
• Jim Schlossnagle was named MWC Coach of the Year for the second time in his career.
• The Frogs hit .330 with 19 home runs in conference play, led by Austin Adams' .438 average.
• The pitching staff posted a 3.99 ERA, led by Jake Arrieta's 1.12 mark..
HOME SWEET HOME
• TCU is riding an 12-game win streak at home, including a perfect 8-0 mark in 2007.
• Steven Trout is the leading hitter this season with a .485 average and nine RBIs.
• The Frogs are hitting .344 as a team, while their opponents are hitting just .214.
• The pitching staff has a 2.40 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 75.0 innings pitched.
ROAD WOES
• TCU is 4-6 away from Lupton Stadium this season.
• A big reason is their.263 batting average and 5.29 ERA.
• They have committed 13 errors for a .965 fielding percentage.
• Keith Conlon is the leading hitter at .457.
• Chance Corgan has the lowest ERA among starters at 2.45.
• The Frogs have been outscored by their opponents 62-55 on the road.
CORGAN DELIVERS
• Needing a strong performance from their starters, Chance Corgan delivered eight shut out innings.
• He combined with Sam Demel to record the Frogs first shutout of the season against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
• He improved to 2-1 and lowered his ERA to 3.70.
UNTOUCHABLE
• Sam Demel has made nine appearances this season.
• He has not allowed an earned run in his last 12 innings pitched, spanning seven appearances.
• On the season, Demel has 29 Ks.
• Opponents are hitting just .130 off him.
HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT
• TCU has been plunked 31 times in the first 18 games of the season.
• Clint Arnold leads the way with seen bruises.
• The Frogs are on pace to register 96 hit-by-pitches this season.
• The school record for hit-by-pitches is 88 set back in 2004.
• TCU tied a school-record with six hit-by-pitches in the second game of the season against UCF.
PRODUCTIVE OUTS
• The Frogs have made the most of their outs this season with 22 sacrifices.
• They have 16 sacrifice bunts and six sacrifice flies.
• In addition, they have advanced 56 runners 90 feet with either a fly ball out or a groundball.
• They have a 50% success rate in advancing runners. With 373 opportunities, they have advance runners 187 times.
A SUCCESSFUL START
• Despite not throwing in the fall, Stephen Maxwell had an impressive freshman debut.
• He has pitched 5.1 scoreless innings this season and allowed just four base runners spanning four appearances.
