TCU baseball survives to face A&M, former coach Jim Schlossnagle in regional showdown
The weekend would not have felt right without it.
And so, we got it.
TCU (38-21) advanced to face Texas A&M (39-18) at 7 p.m. Sunday at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park in the College Station Regional. The game will air online at ESPN+.
The Horned Frogs won two consecutive games after losing their opener on Friday to reach this showdown with the No. 5 national seed Aggies and TCU’s former coach Jim Schlossnagle.
TCU eliminated Louisiana 6-1 early Sunday to stay alive. The Frogs lost to the Ragin’ Cajuns in the opener Friday.
Schlossnagle helped turn TCU baseball into a national power during his tenure from 2004 to 2021, which included five trips to the College World Series and a program record 734 wins.
The Frogs must beat the Aggies on Sunday night for a chance for a 6 p.m. Monday rematch for the regional championship. The winner advances to play the winner of the Louisville Regional. If the Aggies win the regional, they’ll host the Super Regional next weekend.
If TCU runs the table with four consecutive wins, the Horned Frogs would play at Louisville, if Louisville wins its regional.
The Horned Frogs have been here before. In 2012, they won four consecutive games to win the College Station Regional after losing their opener.
Schlossnagle, of course, was TCU’s coach at the time. He’s not exactly thrilled about running into his old team in his first season out of Fort Worth in nearly two decades.
“It was a brutally hard decision to leave TCU but I gave them everything I had for 18 years and I do feel like the program was left in good shape,” said Schlossnagle, who joked that the NCAA must have a sense of humor for pairing the schools.
Schlossnagle’s departure from TCU was almost entirely based on the need for a change of scenery, which included his divorce several years ago.
“I wasn’t running away from anything. [TCU athletic director] Jeremiah [Donati] and Chancellor [Victor] Boschini are incredible at what they do and also very dear friends that I will cherish for a lifetime,” he said. “I don’t want to coach forever and this move was an opportunity to do something special, like we did at TCU, at another great university.”
Texas A&M hasn’t been to the College World Series since 2017 (last time for TCU, too), and hadn’t advanced to a Super Regional since then, either. After failing to make the postseason last year, Rob Childress was fired after 16 seasons with the Aggies.
It was perfect timing for Schlossnagle.
“I adore TCU,” he said. “I just felt like it was a time for a change for me both personally and professionally and Texas A&M provided an opportunity for a different kind of challenge. Not better or worse, just different.”
Schlossnagle and his longtime assistant coach Kirk Saarloos, who is in his first season as TCU’s head coach, didn’t always see things the same way from the dugout, which could be good for a program but at the same time, at times, fractious.
Schlossnagle hired Saarloos to oversee the pitching 10 years ago this month after the Frogs lost a Super Regional at UCLA.
When the regional pairings were announced, Saarloos made it clear that TCU wasn’t facing Schlossnagle, per se. Indeed, without two straight wins Saturday and early Sunday, the Frogs would have missed the Aggies entirely.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun in terms of two really good teams going after it,” Saarloos said. “We’re playing for our lives, for our season in front of their home crowd and I think it’s going to be a phenomenal atmosphere.”
Schlossnagle’s intensity running a program demands hypersensitivity to every last detail and it can be challenging for staff and players, while also rewarding. Everyone, when it comes down to it, wants to win. And Schlossnagle won more than anyone at TCU.
“I think there is probably a shelf life to everything and the change was probably good for TCU as well,” Schlossnagle said. “Kirk had positioned himself well in the program and in the community and the rest of the staff and support staff are outstanding, so I’m sure the transition was an easy one, which is always good for the players and program.”
Saarloos won the Big 12 regular-season championship in his first year, but he’ll be judged ultimately on postseason runs. Following Schlossnagle, who basically built what is considered one of the top 25 programs in the country, won’t be easy.
TCU starter Cam Brown held Louisiana (37-22) to one unearned run over eight innings to earn the win early Sunday. His career-high game in innings couldn’t have come at a more crucial moment for the Horned Frogs. His ability to go deep in Sunday’s early game gives TCU way more pitching options out of the bullpen against the Aggies Sunday night. Drew Hill closed the game in the ninth.
Brayden Taylor’s two-run homer in the first gave TCU a quick lead. The Frogs added a run in the second and a run in the fourth when Gray Rodgers and Porter Brown hit consecutive doubles. Elijah Nunez and Tommy Sacco drove in insurance runs in the eighth.
“When you’re playing in a loser’s bracket game, to win a tournament like this, you’re going to need special things from people on your team,” Saarloos said of Brown’s performance.
“It hasn’t been the easiest of seasons for him … he was out of the rotation. We talked about it and we told him there are going to be several big starts for you. For him to be ready for this moment and go out and give us what we got, gives us a better opportunity to win two games with some guys who didn’t have to throw today.”
This story was originally published June 5, 2022 at 4:12 PM.
