An Inside Look at Alumni Weekend
2/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 8, 2010
FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU baseball team kicked off the 2010 season with a fun-filled alumni weekend. The weekend started with the annual First Pitch Banquet featuring Bobby Valentine and concluded with an exciting baseball game against former players. Head coach Jim Schlossnagle reflected on the weekend.
How special is this weekend for you and your coaching staff?
It was a great weekend for everyone associated with TCU. The 1st Pitch Banquet was our largest ever in terms of attendance, having it at the Brown-Lupton University Union really was special and Bobby Valentine did a great job, as expected. The Alumni Game was productive for our team. You can't help but get better when you are facing current or future Major League pitchers and players. As always, it's always good to see and visit with former players and for our current players to see those guys as well.
What were your overall thoughts on the Alumni game?
I thought it was great preparation for our team for the season. It's always interesting to see how guys, especially new players, react when you play something other than an intrasquad game...who has the game speed up on them and who can slow it down to one pitch at a time. Any time you play, you learn more about your team as a whole and more about each player individually. The challenge is to take what you learn and improve on the areas that must get better.
You faced a pretty stout pitching staff that featured three professional pitchers, what were your impressions of the offense?
I thought, in general, our at-bats were pretty competitive. When asked to execute a part of our offense, like a hit and run, base hit bunt, etc., our guys did really well. We didn't score a runner from third base with less than two outs a few times which is a cardinal sin in our program but you have to credit the pitcher too...both times were against pitchers who have or will soon pitch in the big leagues.
On the mound for the varsity squad you got some solid performances, what were your thoughts on the pitching?
The pitching was solid. Matt Purke didn't have the command that he normally has early but he got better as his outing went along which is a very good sign. He pitched to contact well and we made some plays behind him. Other than his first hitter where he was too excited and pitching up in the zone, I thought Maxwell was outstanding. It was great to see Trent Appleby back on the mound after off-season surgery and he looked like he hadn't missed a beat. Honestly, Erik Miller was the highlight for me, throwing three quality pitches for strikes all with pretty good life and movement. Kaleb Merck is still working on a few things but his stuff continues to be special.
Defensively, the team didn't make any errors. Were you pleased with the overall defensive game played by your team?
I was really impressed mostly with our defense, especially in the infield and with the way Jimmie Pharr and Josh Elander caught behind the plate. Davy Wright played well at second base, Taylor Featherston played with a lot of confidence and Jantzen Witte made some outstanding plays at third base. We didn't turn a double play that must get done in the season and we had a situation were the pitcher didn't cover a base on a pop-up to short left field but that will improve in time.
With so many newcomers in the lineup, who stood out on Saturday?
Of the newcomers, I was impressed with Wright, Von Tungeln and Weik the most. They all played with confidence and it didn't seem like the game, and seeing a different opponent, made them uncomfortable. They stuck to their routines and played each pitch one at a time. Zac Jordan has been in the program for a while but hasn't played much...he will play more this year and his body language was that of a veteran which we will need.
The Frogs season gets under way on Feb. 19 when they host 2009 NCAA Regional participant Sam Houston State. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m.
