TCU’s Josh Watson hopes to blow past school record with lengthy postseason

Josh Watson hadn’t given it much thought.

Not until this season, at least.

TCU’s senior left-fielder has started every game since his 2016 freshman season and is three games from making Horned Frogs’ history.

If TCU wins a game at the Fayetteville Regional, Watson is likely to start the 252nd game of his career, breaking Keaton Jones’ school record of 251 games.

No. 3 seed TCU (32-26) opens the regional against No. 2 seed Cal (32-18) at 6 p.m. Friday at Baum-Walker Stadium. Top seed and host Arkansas (41-17) plays fourth-seeded Central Connecticut (30-21) at 1 p.m. Friday. The winners meet at 6 p.m. Saturday. The losers meet in an elimination game at noon Saturday.

“It’s something that I think is really awesome and something I’ll cherish forever,” said Watson, who his batting .335 and leads TCU with 42 RBIs and 20 doubles and tied with Johnny Rizer for the team lead with 10 home runs. Rizer and Austin Henry have also started all 58 games this season.

“To pass someone like Keaton Jones is amazing,” Watson said. “He played on some really good teams. It’s crazy and it’s awesome.”

For Watson, who was named the Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award Player of the Week after batting .500 with 10 RBIs in the Big 12 tournament, the chance to keep putting on the Frogs’ jersey means more than a record.

“Just [to keep] playing baseball and enjoying every single day. It’s nice. I’m taking in every second,” said Watson, who is one of the few players on the team with a lot of postseason experience. “You can’t really prepare for Baum-Walker Stadium. Those are great fans and that’s a great team. We’re excited for the opportunity to keep playing some baseball and keep wearing this TCU jersey for a little longer. We just have to go out and prove to people that we deserve to be here.”

Watson, who attended Arlington Martin, has been on fire at the plate. He has 18 hits, including six for extra-bases, and 13 RBIs during his current, 10-game hit streak. It’s safe to assume he’ll be in the starting lineup as long as TCU stays alive.

“I actually had him out of the lineup one game and we got rained out,” TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle quipped. “He’s what makes our offense go.”

This story was originally published May 31, 2019 at 4:21 AM.