After ‘successful’ opening weekend, TCU baseball shifts focus to Tuesday’s home opener
It wasn’t a perfect season-opening weekend for TCU baseball in the MLB4 Tournament in Arizona. The Horned Frogs went 2-1 with wins over San Diego State on Friday and Houston on Sunday sandwiched between a loss to Cal on Saturday.
Overall, though, the first weekend was deemed a success by first-year coach Kirk Saarloos.
“We learned a lot about our team,” he said. “I thought our three starting pitchers threw the ball extremely well. We’re still trying to figure out the best combination of our bullpen and roles for different guys. But our defense was good for the most part and the offense had some lulls during games but was good early and late.
“You’d rather win all three games, but in terms of what we learned about our team, and then winning two out of three, it was a successful weekend.”
TCU is looking to carry that momentum into its home opener Tuesday against Stephen F. Austin. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Lupton Stadium. Sophomore right-hander Cam Brown is expected to start for the Frogs.
TCU is 16-5 all-time against Stephen F. Austin, and has won its last three home openers.
“It’s very rare for your home opener to be a midweek game, but hopefully we can get a really good crowd before the weather turns poor,” Saarloos said. “Anytime you get a chance to play at home is pretty awesome, pretty special. I know Cam Brown will be ready to go.”
Every Frogs starting pitcher has been ready to go in the young season so far. Austin Krob threw four scoreless innings Friday, Riley Cornelio allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings Saturday and Brett Walker threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings Sunday.
The bullpen remains a work in progress but Saarloos was pleased with some debuts even if the box score might suggest otherwise. He thought freshmen Cohen Feser and Gray Thomas both pitched well in relief Saturday, considering they were thrown into bases-loaded situations.
“If you look at Cohen Feser’s box score, man, he didn’t do well,” Saarloos said. “But he filled up the strike zone. One of the hits was a nubber that went to no man’s land in the infield and the other was kind of a bleeder with two strikes. Then Gray Thomas comes in later with the bases loaded and his first three pitches were strike one, strike two and then a strikeout. I was really proud of those two guys.”
Offensively, the Frogs’ best player — sophomore third baseman Brayden Taylor — is off to a promising start. Taylor, who hit .636 with a 1.551 OPS and four RBIs, was selected the Big 12 player of the week on Monday.
Freshman first baseman David Bishop also shined in the cleanup spot with four RBIs over the first three games.
Another positive was senior shortstop Tommy Sacco, who was 7 for 13 in the opening weekend. Sacco had a down year at the plate last season, batting .231.
“It’s always good when your best player gets off to a good start. Brayden did Brayden Taylor things,” Saarloos said. “Tommy Sacco had a solid weekend. David Bishop stepped right into the four-hole without blinking an eye. It was a successful weekend with a lot to build off.”
