TCU baseball has met high expectations so far, but big weekend awaits

Facing perhaps its highest expectations ever, TCU won seven of eight games to start the season.

That matches the second-fastest start for the Horned Frogs in 14 seasons under coach Jim Schlossnagle, an indication perhaps that the team is not weighed down by opening as the country’s unanimous No. 1.

But Schlossnagle said that was never a concern.

“You judge that by their preparation,” he said. “If you see guys not locked in at practice, or they’re showing up a little late, or I’m getting back bad reports from the weight room — I haven’t gotten that one time. If you have talented players with that kind of work ethic and that kind of conviction, intent on getting better, it’s going to show up on a baseball field. You may have ugly days like we had last Friday, but that’s just because we played bad. It wasn’t because somebody’s head was in the clouds.”

TCU can match the 8-1 start by Schlossnagle’s 2010 and 2015 teams if it can win its next game. TCU’s best start all-time is 19-1 in 1985 under Bragg Stockton.

The Frogs head into their toughest weekend of the young season starting Friday against LSU, No. 3 in the National College Baseball Writers Association rankings, at the Shriners College Classic at Minute Maid Park in Houston. Saturday, the Frogs play No. 12 Texas A&M, and Sunday they face No. 13 Ole Miss.

As the top-ranked team, the Frogs will be considered favorites. But until this week’s 13-5 victory against Rice, they didn’t think they were playing to their potential.

“There’s a lot of improvement for us to make,” right fielder Austen Wade said. “Obviously, we’re playing well enough to win games right now. But to every guy in the locker room, I don’t think we’re playing up to the standards that we know we can play.”

TCU leads the Big 12 with 13 errors, but also leads the conference in stolen bases, home runs and walks.

“Paying attention to all the small details, focusing on not taking any day for granted has been really good for us,” catcher Evan Skoug said. “It’s easy to come out any day of the week and fall into what the hype is and that we’re No. 1. We’re doing a really good job of being grounded and not taking any day for granted, because it could be our last.”

This story was originally published March 2, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "TCU baseball has met high expectations so far, but big weekend awaits."