Freshman Lodolo gets opening start for TCU at Big 12 tournament

Freshman left-hander Nick Lodolo will start the Big 12 tournament opener for TCU against Kansas’ Taylor Turski.

Lodolo faced the Jayhawks on March 17 at Lupton Stadium, giving up a run on four hits in 5.2 innings.

Turski started at TCU on March 18 and allowed two hits in six innings before being knocked out in the seventh inning.

For Lodolo (5-1, 4.32), it will be his 14th start. He is third on the team in strikeouts with 66 in 66.2 innings.

Turski (3-4, 3.57), a junior left-hander, was fourth in the Big 12 with a .215 batting average against.

“They’re a regional-caliber team, for sure,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle said of seventh-seeded Kansas (29-26), which missed the tournament last season but improved by nine games this season. “That’s a team that’s right on the NCAA tournament bubble, so it’s going to be real important that our motivation and intent is equal or greater than theirs or it could go sideways.”

Schlossnagle said on Monday that Lodolo and Jared Janczak would likely be the first two starting pitchers for TCU (39-14) in the tournament, so Janczak is in line to go Thursday against Texas or Oklahoma, either on the winners side at 12:30 p.m. or in an elimination game at 7:30 p.m.

Brian Howard would most likely start a Game 3 for TCU, Schlossnagle said.

This story was originally published May 24, 2017 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Freshman Lodolo gets opening start for TCU at Big 12 tournament."