If TCU found out anything about itself during the non-conference schedule, it is that hitting might not be a strength this year.
Maybe it still will be. But there is a way around that, hitters can be selective at the plate.Patient at-bats are a sure way to keep a hitting problem from getting worse, as the Frogs, who open the Big 12 schedule Friday night with a three-game set against Kansas, perhaps showed themselves in a two-game sweep of Northwestern State this week.They drew 17 walks and took five hit-by-pitches in the two games.It was part of the reason they put up a .488 on-base percentage and scored 22 runs in the two games.As Northwestern pitching tried to find itself, the Frogs began seeing better pitches, and then began squaring up on them.“We got the hits,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said after Wednesday’s 13-6 victory. “Boomer White had a big at-bat. Cody Jones had a big triple. We got out-hit, but we won the game.”TCU could not count on its hitting during an 0-6 start, in which it scored only eight runs.The bats still aren’t producing what anyone would call robust results, but the Frogs are 7-3 in their past 10 games. And they have three double-digit run games in that stretch.“This is as well as we’ve been swinging the bat, in our park, at least,” Schlossnagle said. “Hopefully we’ll keep swinging the bats like this.”The Frogs have helped themselves by also playing good defense. They go into Friday night’s game not having allowed a batter to reach base by an error in four consecutive games.Kansas could test the defense. It is averaging 6.7 runs in an 11-5 start, has stolen 45 bases in 56 attempts and has a 2.90 team earned-run average and a .251 opponents batting average.Carlos Mendez, 817-390-7407 Twitter: @calexmendez
