Inspired Frogs Leap Aggies

By Travis L. Brown

Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com

 

Travis Brown is a former bullpen catcher who covers TCU athletics, the Dallas Stars and high school sports for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Follow on Twitter @Travis_L_Brown

 

FORT WORTH, Texas – Friday, TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle showed his team a video containing highlights of former Cincinnati Red Pete Rose’s career, hoping to inspire a little reckless abandon into his team.

 

“If we go down, let's go down like this, but I bet you if we play hard, at some point it's going to go in our favor,” Schlossnagle said he told his team.

 

The result was an offensive explosion, thanks in part to some aggressive base running, leading to a 13-4 Horned Frogs victory over Texas A&M in Game 1 of the Fort Worth Super Regional.

 

“I think that we all kind of took something from that and played a little bit extra hard after watching that video,” TCU senior third baseman Derek Odell said. “That’s kind of how our program has been focused, around hustle, since Coach Schlossnagle has been here. I think we just stepped that up and took it to another level today.”

 

Offensively, Odell led the charge, posting a 4-for-5 day, driving in two and scoring a pair of runs. Three other TCU batters knocked in two or more runs, led by shortstop Keaton Jones’ three.

 

However, it was a series of small plays – Charlie Hustle plays – that kept the momentum in TCU’s favor in front of a Lupton Stadium record crowd of 7,199.

 

TCU baserunners went from first to third off singles three times in the game, all three of whom would eventually score. With less than two outs, TCU was 8 for 9 with a runner on third base and finished 9 for 16 with runners in scoring position.

 

The Horned Frogs (48-12) swiped three bases in the game, including two from Odell.

The other came on the legs of Nolan Brown, who took off on a curve ball from Texas A&M starting pitcher Grayson Long and slid in safely at second, only to see the ball get away from second baseman Ryan Birk, allowing him to advance to third.

 

The ball had only rolled a few feet away from Birk, creating a close but exciting play at third.

 

“It puts a little bit of pressure on us,” Aggies shortstop Blake Allemand said. “We have to make better throws. All in all, whenever they get on the bases, they’re smart. They know when to go and they know when not to go.”

 

TCU jumped on the Aggies (49-13) early, scoring five runs in the first three innings. Five runs (four earned) and seven hits from the Frogs chased Long from the game after three innings, marking his shortest outing of the season. It was also the nine-game winner’s first loss of the season.

 

“We had a really good scouting report on Grayson,” Odell said. “We knew that he liked his fastball a lot, so we were ready to hit a fastball. I think we did a really good job of eliminating the pitches down in the zone and up in the zone.”

 

Senior reliever Trey Teakell (2-1) picked up the win for TCU, throwing four innings of scoreless baseball and allowing just one hit, a Jonathan Moroney double to right center in the top of the sixth.

 

Teakell saw only three innings of work during the Fort Worth Regional, all three of which came in TCU’s Monday come from behind in against North Carolina State.

 

“I mean, I was ready to hear my name called like I always am, but I wasn’t expecting or not expecting to pitch,” he said. “I knew if the team needed me that I was ready to go.”

 

TCU’s starter, sophomore Tyler Alexander, left the game after a three-run, fourth inning, which pulled A&M within a run. Alexander (6-2) allowed four runs (three earned), on nine hits. 

 

Moroney picked up just his eighth start of the season Saturday for A&M and made the most of it, posting a 4-for-4 performance from the eight-hole, driving in one run.

 

TCU sends All-Big 12 senior Preston Morrison (11-2, 2.66 ERA) to the mound tomorrow with a chance to punch the Horned Frogs’ second ticket to Omaha in as many years and third all-time.  

 

Opposite Morrison will be Aggie junior Matt Kent (9-1, 2.99 ERA), whom A&M head coach Rob Childress said is the Aggies hottest pitcher.

 

Kent hasn’t allowed more than a run in an appearance since May 9, but will be tasked with keeping the hot-hitting Horned Frogs off the bases Sunday at 1:15 p.m.

 

“We’ve got to be better on the mound tomorrow if we’re going to have a chance,” Childress said.

 

Fort Worth Extra – TCU’s Lupton Stadium attendance record broken

 

With a crowd of 7,199 in attendance Saturday at Game 1 of the Fort Worth Super Regional, TCU shattered its attendance record by 1,100. 

 

The previous high mark of 6,099 was set February 8, 2011 against Kansas, the season opener after TCU made its first College World Series appearance.

 

Lupton Stadium lists a capacity of 4,500, but fans packed the grass general admission area down the left field line and even perched in the ivy that covers the ground over the right field fence Saturday.

 

TCU and Texas A&M hold another spot on Lupton’s Top 10 with the April 24, 2012 meeting now sitting seventh, hosting a crowd of 5,412.

 

For context, TCU’s enrollment last year was 10,033 and the total number of living Horned Frogs alumni around the world is around 80,000. Texas A&M’s fall 2014 enrollment was 62,185.