Horned Frogs Take On Baylor
The TCU Baseball team gears up this week to start conference play against rival Baylor. The series comes off a three-game stint versus the Rajun Cajun’s of Louisiana where TCU won the series 2-1. In the two wins, the Horned Frogs looked great controlling the game in all facets. Austin Krob was dominant in his start having his best game of the year so far striking out a total of nine batters. They will need excellence from the mound if they want to beat Baylor though. While the Bears aren’t ranked, they currently have a record of 13-6 which is technically better than TCU who sit at 13-7.
Baylor Struggles Against TCU
Baylor is coming off a series against the Texas Longhorns which started off with two lousy games for the Bears where they failed to gain any traction against the strong pitching of the Longhorns. In the third game of the series, however, the bats came alive for 11 runs, six of which came in the 7th inning. This scares me for the Horned Frogs who have been susceptible to giving up a lot of runs at times. They have given up 10 or more runs three times, two of which came against Gonzaga. Gonzaga is a middle-of-the-road team that has been easily handled by other teams in the college baseball top 25 like Texas Tech who swept them.
Will TCU Make Winning Pitches?
TCU has been effective offensively throughout the year to this point scoring 7.66 runs per game since the “Shriners Hospitals For Children College Classic” so the bats shouldn’t be an issue for the Frogs. Pitching wise it has been an enigma. Austin Krob has the worst ERA for any of the starting pitchers yet, he hasn’t lost a start. Haylen Green has been the best pitcher for the Frogs with an ERA of 1.88. I’m worried about the relievers though. Several times throughout the season they have blown games that could have been easy victories. How much of that was the pitching and how much was the other team hitting? That question will loom large in this upcoming series.
The Game Is Up In The Air
While an interesting matchup, TCU is much more talented than Baylor and will likely lean on that in the series. I do think Baylor will steal a game from under the Frogs though. The relievers are just too inconsistent for a team like Baylor to not jump on at least once. It will be up to Coach Schlossnagle to manage the games and make sure that the bullpen doesn’t get overwhelmed. I think TCU will win the series 2-1 dropping either the middle or final game.
Go to https://gofrogs.com/sports/baseball/schedule/2021 to view the schedule for upcoming games and times. Want to read more? Check out TCU Basketball Season Recap.
Story by Ryan Scott, Campus Live sports journalist intern
