TCU baseball is ‘dangerous’ team going into NCAAs

TCU baseball is back in the NCAA Tournament.

The Frogs were a surprise selection into the field on Monday, and will face California -- yes, the same school the football team defeated in the Cheez-It Bowl last December -- in the Fayetteville [Arkansas] Regional at 6 p.m. Friday.

TCU (32-26) was No. 59 in RPI, and were viewed as a long shot to get in the tournament. But the Frogs played well in the Big 12 tournament last weekend, reaching the semifinals, and earned a three-seed in the NCAAs. TCU also won two of its final three regular-season series against conference opponents West Virginia and Kansas.

“It’s a huge sigh of relief,” said TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle, who missed the NCAAs for just the second time in his tenure last season.

“My biggest fear in life is to disappoint anyone. Last year we did that and it’s going to happen in college athletics. It’s going to happen in college baseball. But I fight like crazy to make TCU proud, our fans, our administration. You just don’t want to let anyone down.

“I’m just so happy for our guys that they get to have this experience and get a chance to play more baseball.”

The other regional matchup is between host Arkansas and Central Connecticut State. The games will be shown on ESPN3.

There are 16 regional tournaments across the country, and one team from each will emerge from a double-elimination style tournament.

Schlossnagle said he and his staff will work up a game plan that gives TCU the best chance to advance out of the regional. That means ace left-hander Nick Lodolo may not start the Friday opener, Schlossnagle said, although he will get a start at some point.

Senior right-hander Jared Janczak, who had 12 strikeouts and allowed two runs over six innings in a 13-6 victory over Oklahoma State on Saturday, is expected to get a start too. Charles King would be a strong candidate to move into a relief role.

“We’ve just got to figure out what’s going to give us the best chance to win the regional,” Schlossnagle said.

TCU could get reinforcements that were unavailable during the Big 12 tournament. Jake Guenther, who leads the team in batting average, is dealing with a wrist injury but remains day-to-day. Right-hander Dalton Brown is expected to be back to full strength by this weekend.

But the best news, outside of getting in the tournament, is that the starting pitching gives TCU a chance to be a dangerous team in the tournament.

Janczak appears to be back to his old self, and Lodolo is expected to be the first college pitcher taken in next week’s MLB Draft. Left-hander Brandon Williamson is projected as a second- or third-round draft pick too.

Plus, the Frogs offense has shown it’s potent. TCU pulled away for a 15-3 victory over Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament on Thursday and also had wins of 5-2 over Baylor and 13-6 over Oklahoma State.

“Four or five weeks ago, nobody was thinking about TCU,” said Ray Tanner, South Carolina’s athletic director who serves as the NCAA baseball selection committee chairman, during the selection show on ESPNU.

“They made a run. They can be dangerous with their starting pitching and they have everybody healthy right now. They were one of the last teams in for sure, but we feel like they’re one of the best teams and deserving of being in the 64.”

TCU has now made the NCAAs in 14 of 16 seasons under Schlossnagle.

TCU is one of five Big 12 schools that earned an invitation to the tournament, along with Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, West Virginia and Baylor.

Schlossnagle felt the Big 12 deserved five teams in the tournament, too, and sold his team to the committee whenever he could.

“When it gets down to the last couple of teams, they really do take a hard look at your club and not just the metrics,” Schlossnagle said. “When you look at our team, our No. 1 starter is going to be more than likely the first college pitcher selected. Brandon Williamson is a second- or third-round pick. Chuck King and now Jared Janczak are pitching well. The people on the committee look at us and say, ‘Who would I not want to face in the regional?’ We’ve been playing well.

“And our team has shown a lot of grit, man. They showed it in the Oklahoma game. Going into that 14-run inning, OU was winning 1-0. Then we beat Baylor. ... The committee is sitting in that room and they’re watching all this stuff. I know our RPI isn’t pretty, but the RPI is not reflective of our team.

“We’re in and we deserve to be in. Now we’ve got to go play.”

This story was originally published May 27, 2019 at 11:30 AM.