Jerome credits curve ball, stadium for his awards
By Brent Yarina
Staff Reporter

Third time’s the charm for TCU’s ace pitcher Clayton Jerome.

On April 14, Jerome, who threw 16 consecutive scoreless innings in shutout victories over Alabama-Birmingham and Memphis the last two weekends, was named Conference USA’s

Pitcher of the Week for a league-leading third time this season.

The 6-3 right-handed junior received the award for his two dominating performances, when he posted strikeout totals of 13 and 12, respectively, while leading the team to two consecutive sweeps over conference opponents.

The six-game winning streak put the Horned Frogs in a second-place tie with East Carolina and just one game behind league-leading Southern Mississippi.

“We know what we need to do and we have a lot of talent this year,” he said. “We’re playing really good team baseball right now and are in a great situation if we just go out and play like we have been.”

Jerome, a 2002 second team All-C-USA selection, said even though TCU does not play Southern Miss this season, the team still has a great chance at winning its first C-USA crown.

He said this year’s team is in contention for the conference championship because it has a lot more experience than last year’s team, which finished third in C-USA with a 30-29 record.

“This year we had a lot of players come back with a lot of experience,” he said. “We’re playing good ball and getting good pitching, hitting and defense.”

Relief pitcher Ryan Weems said he credits the eight guys who play behind the pitchers every game for much of the team’s success.

“The success of this team isn’t on any specific one person,” Weems said. “We’ve proved all year that we have a good all around team.”

However, Weems said, there are not many players on the team more deserving of credit for this season than Jerome.

“We all know that he’ll throw strong everyday,” he said. “He constantly pulls his own weight and has thrown a lot of great innings. We wouldn’t be where we are at without his conference wins.”

Jerome said he attributes most of his success to his ability to consistently throw his curve ball for a strike and to the team’s new home at Lupton Stadium.

“The new stadium has proved to be a pitcher’s park because the wind has been blowing in and it’s much bigger than the old park,” Jerome said.

Despite averaging one strikeout an inning this season, Jerome said, he does not think of himself as a power pitcher and that he refuses to change his philosophy on the mound.

“I don’t consider myself a strikeout pitcher,” he said. “The past few times out I’ve been getting big strikeout numbers, but I’m still just trying to keep people off balance by changing speeds, getting ahead in the count and relying on the teammates behind me like I always have.”

First baseman and designated hitter Chris Neuman said Jerome is an invaluable teammate because he brings a lot of confidence to the team.

“Every time he goes out there, we know he’s going to get a win and he’s not going to give up many runs,” Neuman said. “He saves our pitchers for the weekend double-headers by going out and throwing complete games.”

b.j.yarina@tcu.edu