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Frogs
look to extend streak The TCU baseball team heads into action this weekend with a three-game conference series after coming off the longest winning streak of the season. The team heads into the series on a four-game winning streak. All four wins have been against ranked teams, the most recent being a 5-2 victory against No. 10 Baylor on Tuesday. On the season the Horned Frogs have a 7-1 record against ranked opponents.
The Frogs (13-14, 4-2 C-USA) will be taking on Charlotte (15-9, 5-1 C-USA) at the TCU Diamond. The series will open 2:35 p.m Friday. With such impressive results against high-caliber teams, head coach Lance Brown said that with the team’s goals, they expect those kind of results. “We said that if we were going to compete in this league (Conference USA), we wanted to play the best people possible,” Brown said. “I think a big part of that success is playing teams that we are not intimidated by. We play them all year long, and I think a lot of teams lose to the top-ranked teams because they think they have to do more than they are capable of doing. We realize how good they are, and where we are, and just feel that we can play with them.” Junior first baseman Walter Olmstead said as well that the team does not shy away from any opponent. “We know every day we can come out and play with the best,” Olmstead said. “That’s what we work for: A chance to play the best at the end of the season. We try to do the best we can. When we play TCU baseball, we know we can play against anybody.” The bright spot for the team at the moment is pitching, Brown said. During this winning streak, the Frogs have only allowed nine earned runs. Two weeks ago the team ERA was at 6.38, last in the conference. It has since dropped to 5.79. With many new faces and early injuries to the pitching staff, Brown said that the group overall is just learning what pitching in college is all about. “We had to go into this (season) with not having thrown much in the fall,” Brown said. “And with them coming out of college, and some out of high school, I don’t think we were prepared when the season started. Getting knocked around early, they have made adjustments as the year has gone on, which has been huge.” Junior third basemen Mike Settle said the team knew that the pitchers would come around. “We’ve been pretty consistent all-around all year,” Settle said. “They have obviously have come around. We knew they would, but didn’t know when. They are pitching unbelievable right now, and hopefully it will continue.” Brown said that Charlotte will bring the offense to test the pitching success. “I think they have mostly done it with hitting,” Brown said. “They’ve got a really good hitting ball club. Their defense is average, and their pitching is average to below average. So I think for us, we need to pitch well to control their hitters, and swing at good pitches.” After Friday’s contest, the series will continue 1:05 p.m. Saturday, and conclude 12:05 p.m. Sunday. Danny
Gillham |
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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002 |
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