Offense absent against Rice
Frogs’ winning streak snapped in sweep to Owls

By Colleen Casey
Skiff Staff

Head baseball coach Lance Brown said he describes what last weekend’s series against Rice meant for his team as a lesson, rather than a test.

Photo by David Dunai - Senior Photographer Senior pitcher Stan Newton delivers a pitch in Sunday’s 7-1 loss against Rice at the TCU Diamond. The Horned Frogs lost all three games to the Owls and fell five games behind Rice in the conference standings.

“We’re going to move on from here with what we need to know to be a good team,” Brown said.

The Frogs were swept in the three-game series at home by Rice, which remained second behind Stanford in the latest Baseball America poll. TCU fell to 20-12 on the season and 11-5 in the Western Athletic Conference.

TCU broke its seven-game winning streak, while Rice jumped five games ahead of second place TCU in the WAC standings.

Senior outfielder Rudy Rivera said he takes the weekend for what it is worth.

“The series shows us we have a little more work yet to do,” Rivera said. “And that’s what we’re going to do.”

Brown said the team should focus on improving offensively, a component that he said crept up on TCU against Rice.

The first game began with a pitching duel between TCU senior Chris Bradshaw and Rice’s Kenny Baugh for the first four innings in which Bradshaw allowed two hits and struck out four.

In his complete-game performance, Baugh struck out 15 and allowed three runs on nine hits.

TCU went on to lose game one, 5-3. Bradshaw took the loss, allowing four runs on seven hits in six innings before junior Patrick Newburn and senior Chad Durham pitched in relief.

The Frogs were able to rally in the bottom of the seventh inning with three runs on two hits, which closed the deficit to 4-2.

Things didn’t go much better offensively in game two on Saturday as TCU lost, 4-1.

The Frogs had one hit in 12 opportunities with runners in scoring position.

Senior left fielder Tom Bates said he doesn’t feel the team performed up to its potential at the plate.

“We didn’t get the job done,” Bates said. “It doesn’t matter how tough of a team they are.”

Junior starting pitcher Justin Crowder gave up four runs on nine hits in his six innings.

The Owls took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the third inning with help from a solo home run by center fielder A.J. Porfirio.

The Frogs’ only run, an unearned run, came off starter Jeff Nichols in the bottom of the third inning on one hit and a throwing error.

Brown said it was clear that the Frogs showed no plate discipline throughout the game and the series.

In TCU’s 7-1 loss Sunday, Rice starter Jon Skaggs and reliever Jonathan Gonzalez held the Frogs to their only run in the first inning off two walks, a single and a sacrifice fly. The Frogs managed just three hits in game three and hit .187 for the series.

“We don’t have any consolations for not hitting,” Bates said. “We didn’t hit well, and we needed to.”

Senior starter David Tombrella gave up 10 of Rice’s 16 total hits in 3 2/3 innings in the game-three loss.

“We’ll either be able to rebound or we just won’t,” Brown said. “We weren’t even able to (put up a) threat (against Rice.)”
Despite losing three games, the Frogs still lead the WAC with a .318 batting average, down from their previous WAC-leading average of .330 before the weekend’s series. TCU stands first in the WAC in triples, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and runs scored.

Brown said he attributes the high rankings to a few high-hitting games, and he said it definitely wasn’t an asset over Rice.
“You take away Iowa State and (Texas Pan-American), and we aren’t hitting as well as Rice,” Brown said. “Our figures are misleading.”

The Rice series taught the Frogs a lesson that might be hard for them to swallow, but it is all part of the ups and downs involved in the game, Brown said.

Colleen Casey
c.m.casey@student.tcu.edu