Trying something new
Pitching has never been a priority under Lance Brown, but times have changed

By Kelly Morris
Associate Sports Editor

After building the TCU baseball team's offense for many seasons, head coach Lance Brown said this season will have to be different.

“This year we have a totally different team and philosophy,” Brown said. “Five to seven years ago, with our baseball park being as small as it is, we decided we had to get in the hitting business, or we weren’t going to win. Now since the home runs are on the decline, we have to put more emphasize on defense and pitching.”

Last season, the Frogs finished in last place in both pitching and defense in the Western Athletic Conference. While the Frogs managed to score 310 runs last year, they gave up 358 in the process. When holding their opponents to less than five runs, the team was 15-6, but when they allowed their opponents to score five or more runs, they were only 6-29.

Senior pitcher Chris Bradshaw said the pitching shouldn’t take all the blame for the team’s unsuccessful seasons.

“Our pitching isn’t the main reason why we have struggled the past few seasons,” Bradshaw said. “More importantly, it’s because we didn’t come together as a whole team. One game we would have great pitching and no hitting while in another game, we would have great hitting and no pitching.

“We have, however, lacked depth in our pitching staff in the past.”

Photo by Erin Munger Junior college transfer Justin Crowder is one newcomer to the mound for Horned Frogs this season. The pitching staff will be relied upon more this season than normal.

This season the Frogs will be without strikeout record holder Shawn Thompson who graduated last season. Thompson started 17 games last season and recorded a 4.30 ERA and 76 strikeouts. He went 7-5 for the year.

Despite Thompson’s absence, Bradshaw said the team will look to its experience and depth in the bullpen.

“We have a lot of older guys on this pitching staff that have learned a great deal from Shawn and have been through a lot,” Bradshaw said. “They know what it takes to win and know how to deal with adversity. Although Shawn was a great competitor and a very smart pitcher, and we would love to have him back, (his absence) won’t be a huge loss because we always have the guys that can step in and fill people’s spots.”

In an effort to improve pitching and defense, Brown said adjustments in recruiting were crucial.

“We have more pitchers than we ordinarily have on this team,” Brown said. “This year we want to be more defense- oriented and work to upgrade defense and pitching. Because we have 13 seniors on this team who were recruited more for their offense than for their defense, the adjustments may not show until the end of this season or next season.

“We didn’t recruit many players this year because we had most of the crew coming back, but we’ll try to make the transition the best we can with the players we have on this team.”

Of the 17 pitchers who are on the Frogs’ current roster, four of them are transfers.

Brown said he sees seniors Chad Durham and David Tombrella, junior Justin Crowder and Bradshaw as the top starting pitchers for this season.

Senior pitcher Stan Newton said the team will need at least 10 to 11 reliable pitchers to reach its goals.

“To have the season we’re expecting, we need to have at least 10 pitchers who can fill in any time and get the job done,” Newton said. “With a 62-game season, we need many pitchers so the others can rest.”

Newton said tremendous strides were taken in the fall to better the defense and pitching.

“We’re working on throwing more strikes and off-speed pitches for strikes because we gave the other team too many extra opportunities to get on base last year,” Newton said. “When looking at defense, you pitch a lot better when you have confidence in your defense. I’m not afraid to let (the opponent) hit it on the ground because I know the infield is going to make the play.”

Bradshaw said the team’s new depth in pitchers has allowed for more variety.

“Every pitcher on this team is different,” Bradshaw said. “Whether they throw hard, straight, side-arm or left-handed, the pitchers add variety to this team. From that, it gives us a lot of options that can fit in certain situations we may have.”

Kelly Morris
k.l.morris@student.tcu.edu