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Room
to improve
Frogs break losing streak to Tech
By Danny Gillham
Skiff Staff
At first glance, the TCU baseball team looks to be in
top shape.
The
team boosted its record to 8-4 after taking two of three
from a weekend series against No. 22 Texas Tech (Sports
Weekly/ESPN Top 25), and ended a 10-game losing streak
to the Red Raiders.
“TCU
is the best team we have played this year,” Texas
Tech head coach Larry Hays said. “They are really
going to have a good year if they stay healthy.”
However,
the Frogs are not playing with the same mental prowess
which benefited them last season. Sunday’s 7-5
loss saw TCU have lapses on the base paths, pitching
and at the plate.
Head
coach Lance Brown said his veteran club has only played
two efficient games out of 12.
“When
you have seniors that can’t even think about the
game or how to play the game then you got to step back
and see what is going on,” Brown said. “You
hope that somewhere along the line they begin to put
things together, if not its going to be a long year,
because you are going to lose a lot of games.”
The
team swept the double-header Saturday 2-1 and 3-2. Game
one was highlighted by junior pitcher Clayton Jerome,
who was named the Conference USA pitcher of the Week.
Jerome gave up four hits, walked none and struck out
seven in a complete game victory.
In
the second game, TCU received all the runs it needed
on a three-run homer by sophomore outfielder Jake Duncan
in the fourth inning.
Duncan,
who also homered in the Sunday finale, said that despite
the team’s sloppy loss to Tech, it must now improve.
“I
guess if we would have won, we might have rolled into
(the next game) and the weekend thinking ‘we don’t
have to try hard, we are going to win,’” Duncan
said. “But now it makes us work a little harder.”
TCU’s
scheduled matchup against Southwest Texas in San Marcos
today was postponed due to inclement weather. No makeup
date has been announced.
Next
up for the Frogs is a three-game series with Texas-Arlington
this weekend to be played at Lupton Baseball Stadium.
d.r.gillham@tcu.edu
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