Frogs’ schedule aids record

The baseball team is off to a start that many thought highly unlikely, including myself. In all honesty, I never thought 20 wins would be possible after nearly 30 games.

The statistics are hard to ignore. The Frogs are hitting .330 as a team, while opponents are batting just .255 against the TCU pitching staff. You’ll win a lot of games when opponents hit just .255, especially at the collegiate level, but probably at any level.

Junior pitcher Justin Crowder has been one of the leaders of the TCU pitching staff this season. At 20-9 overall and 11-2 in conference, TCU is second behind Rice. The Frogs are scheduled to play Texas-Arlington, weather permitting, at 2:35 p.m. today at the TCU Diamond.

Those offensive numbers lead to a team ERA of 3.73, which again, at the collegiate level these days is phenomenal. It’s borderline amazing when you look at last season’s numbers.

In 2000, the Horned Frogs’ staff had an overall ERA of 5.53. Do the math.

Last season, opponents hit .300 against TCU pitching. The Horned Frog offense is averaging three more earned runs a game this season than last.

So really, it’s no wonder TCU (20-9, 11-2 Western Athletic Conference) has been so successful.

Or is it?

Looking at the schedule, thus far, possibly provides some insight into why the team’s offense has been vastly more successful and why the pitching has looked so dominant at times.

TCU has 10 wins this season — half of its wins — against the likes of Prairie View A&M, Texas-Pan American and Hawaii-Hilo. Pan-Am has managed a 4-23 start to its season, while Hilo has posted a 4-22 mark, including 1-14 in its last 15 games. Prairie View has been the road kill of college baseball for years.

Impressed?

Pan Am’s offense hits just .228 as a team, and its pitching staff has an overall ERA at 6.32. If you couple that pitching staff with a defense fielding at just a .944 clip, there’s a lot of runs coming in.

Hilo’s not much better. The Vulcans hit just .234 and have a team ERA of 6.66. Opponents have had little trouble with the Hilo offense, posting a 2.73 ERA.

Impressed yet?

Granted, the idea isn’t to discredit a 20-9 start to the season. On the contrary, TCU should be very pleased with its start. Senior pitcher Chris Bradshaw is fresh off a no-hitter against Hilo. The Frogs’ offense has six players hitting .330 or higher and the pitching staff has just about everyone who has seen regular action with an ERA under 4.00.

That alone is a huge step forward from last season when no pitcher finished with an ERA less than 4.30.

But, things will get tougher before they get easier for TCU baseball this season.

The Frogs stand second in the WAC standings behind Rice (25-6, 14-1). Looking at the Owls’ schedule shows just how different the two programs have been this season. In comparison, Rice has wins over five teams currently ranked in the Baseball America Top 25: No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 17 Central Florida, No. 18 Baylor and No. 25 Wake Forest. The Owls also sport wins over Texas-Austin and Texas Tech.
TCU has two wins over Texas, but took an early-season loss to Texas Tech. The Frogs’ only ranked competition was Baylor, which they played in the Enron Field Classic in Houston in February, resulting in 12-4 loss.

Strength of schedule isn’t a typical topic of conversation during the baseball season, but it’s hard to ignore especially with Rice coming to town this weekend. For TCU to get any respect for its 20-9 start, the Frogs will have to take at least two of the three games.

That’s a tall order against Baseball America’s top-ranked team.

Granted, TCU did something the mighty Owls were unable to accomplish — sweep six games in their trip to Hawaii. Rice took just five of six games. I guess that could be a good sign.

But, possibly not impressive enough.

Associate Editor Danny Horne is a senior broadcast journalism major from Carrollton.
He can be reached at (d.m.horne@student.tcu.edu).