No easy start: TCU draws two 40-win teams in Fort Worth Regional

TCU’s start to the NCAA baseball playoffs is not going to be easy.

The Horned Frogs drew one of the toughest at-large teams in the NCAA tournament field, Virginia, as part of the Fort Worth Regional.

The 42-14 Cavaliers join 40-19 Dallas Baptist and 36-20 Central Connecticut State in coming to Lupton Stadium as part of the four-team tournament.

Dallas Baptist played two games this season against TCU. The Patriots lost 9-3 to TCU at home on April 11 and 3-2 in Fort Worth on March 7.

“I’m biased, but Virginia has to be the toughest 2-seed in the country, considering they were very close to hosting,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “In my mind, they were the 17th team if they would seed the top 16. But to get to Omaha, you’re going to have to beat good teams. So all we can worry about is preparation for the weekend and being ready to play Friday night.”

Virginai and Dallas Baptist will play at 3 p.m. Friday on ESPNU.

TCU is scheduled for an 8 p.m. first pitch against Central Connecticut State, streaming on ESPN3.

Central Connecticut State and TCU have a common opponent — Oklahoma. Central Connecticut State was swept at Oklahoma in March. TCU lost a three-game series at Oklahoma in May.

“Your 4-seed is a team that didn’t just win their tournament, they won 36 games,” Schlossnagle said. “And Dallas Baptist, we’re all very aware of how talented they are and the history they’ve had in their program, being in Super Regionals and regionals all the time. And they’ve played in our park plenty of times, so that’s not going to faze them in any way.”

The Fort Worth Regional winner will meet the Fayetteville Regional winner, where 42-17 Arkansas is the top seed. But that regional also has 42-14 Oral Roberts and 40-17 Missouri State.

So potentially, TCU could face and have to defeat three 40-win teams to even reach the College World Series for a fourth consecutive season.

“Once you get to this time of year, you’re going to be playing a good team any time you step on the field,” TCU pitcher Brian Howard said. “You’re going to be playing a great arm or a really hot team or a team that’s just really good. We knew no matter who was in our regional, they were going to be three really good teams. We’re just excited to get to play baseball again at Lupton this weekend.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2017 at 11:48 AM with the headline "No easy start: TCU draws two 40-win teams in Fort Worth Regional."