TCU baseball begins tough stretch

After an undefeated opening home stand, the TCU baseball team will travel to Arizona State for a three-game series against the Sun Devils this weekend.

First pitch Friday is set for 7:30 p.m. at Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

TCU, ranked as high as No. 1 in the five major polls, beat UT Arlington 4-1 Tuesday night after sweeping Southern Illinois to open the season. The Frogs (4-0) outscored the Salukis 32-4 in three games and have allowed only two earned runs in 36 innings.

Preston Morrison, who tossed seven scoreless innings in TCU’s season opener, will start Friday. The rest of the Frogs’ opening weekend rotation of lefties Tyler Alexander on Saturday and Alex Young on Sunday will also stay the same.

Center fielder Cody Jones is batting .600 (9-for-15) from TCU’s leadoff spot. Freshmen Evan Skoug and Connor Wanhanen are tied for a team-best five RBIs.

But the Frogs will get their toughest test of the young season against the nationally ranked Sun Devils (3-1), who check in as high as No. 9.

They took two of three games against Oklahoma State — another ranked team — last weekend and beat Oklahoma 7-4 Wednesday night.

Colby Woodmansee is hitting .474 with a pair of homers and five RBIs to lead the team. The sophomore shortstop has done his damage from the back end of the lineup, batting eighth for the first two games and seventh in the last two.

Left-hander Bret Lilek, who will start Friday, threw 4 2/3 innings, giving up two earned runs and walking four Feb. 13 against OSU. ASU won 4-3 in 10 innings with closer Ryan Burr earning the win. Another lefty, Ryan Kellogg, will start for the Sun Devils on Saturday.

The junior right-hander Burr set the school career saves record (26) Wednesday in two scoreless innings against OU. Burr also closed out a 7-4 win over OSU on Sunday.

For TCU, the ASU series will mark the beginning of a grueling stretch between now and the start of Big 12 play on March 12, against Baylor.

The Frogs host Cal Poly for a series next weekend, and then host Rice for one game the following Tuesday. After that, they’ll head to Dodger Stadium for games against USC, UCLA and Vanderbilt, the defending national champion. A Tuesday game at Loyola Marymount on March 3 will wrap up TCU’s stay in Los Angeles..

This story was originally published February 19, 2015 at 2:23 PM with the headline "TCU baseball begins tough stretch."