Frogs set to play six games in seven days

By Brandon Ortiz
Skiff Staff

Don’t be surprised if the Horned Frogs sleep on the way to Lubbock today.

They’re going to need it.

The baseball team (22-15, 13-7 Western Athletic Conference) will play six games in the next seven days, starting with today’s game against Texas Tech at 3 p.m. at Dan Law Field. After that, the Frogs play Texas-Arlington at 2:35 p.m. Thursday at the TCU Diamond, take a day off Friday, play a three-game series starting Saturday against Hawaii and play Texas at the annual Battle at The Ballpark at The Ballpark in Arlington Tuesday.

Head coach Lance Brown said the slew of games will be trying on the team’s stamina.

Tim Cox/SKIFF STAFF The TCU baseball team goes through batting practice Tuesday at the TCU Diamond. The Horned Frogs are scheduled to play Texas Tech today in Lubbock, marking the start of six games in the next seven games. The Frogs are 2-6 in their last eight games.

“It’s going to be pretty tough,” Brown said. “We are already kind of tired from the transportation.”

The team did not arrive from their road trip to Nevada until about 6 a.m. Monday. Their original flight was canceled, and the team had to drive to Sacramento, Calif. to catch a red eye flight back to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Senior pitcher Chris Bradshaw said the team is worn out.

“I didn’t even go to sleep,” Bradshaw said. “Everybody is tired and stressed out from school. It might be a struggle the first two games.”

Junior shortstop Erick Macha didn’t get much shut eye either, but didn’t seem too concerned.

“Not much,” Macha said. “I couldn’t sleep on the plane. I’ll be all right though. We’ve done it before.”

The Frogs shortened practice Tuesday to rest up for the seven-day stretch.

“We had a good day (Tuesday),” Bradshaw said. “(We) Stretched real good. We were trying to be real light.”

Junior pitcher Patrick Newburn will start today against Texas Tech. Brown plans to use him for three or four innings and will give a lot of pitchers work.

Brown said he will use four or five pitchers against Texas-Arlington Wednesday, but did not know who would start. He said he expects the starting staff to bounce back from last weekend’s series against Nevada when starters averaged four innings a start with a 11.25 ERA.

“Those things happen,” Brown said. “They go into slumps just like hitters.”

Texas Tech was 25-14 going into Tuesday’s game against West Texas A&M. The Red Raiders are led offensively by Nick Blankenship who was hitting .375 with nine home runs and 40 RBIs before play Tuesday.

TCU is coming off a series split in WAC play against Nevada. Macha leads the team with a .354 batting average and 12 stolen bases. Senior right fielder Tom Bates and sophomore first baseman Walter Olmstead lead the Frogs’ attack with six home runs each.

Brandon Ortiz
b.p.ortiz@student.tcu.edu