How does this TCU baseball team compare to Horned Frogs’ past College World Series clubs?

The path to the College World Series is set for the Horned Frogs.

With two wins over Indiana State this weekend, TCU will advance to Omaha for the first time since 2017.

Game 1 is Friday at 4 p.m. (ESPNU).

The Horned Frogs have Series experience, advancing to Omaha five times from 2010-17, including four straight trips.

The 2016 and ‘17 teams fought back from the elimination bracket before falling in the semifinals.

Former TCU outfielder Luken Baker was on those teams.

“We got there to Omaha, went 2-0 really quick,” said Baker, who’s now a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

“Had a chance win and go to that final series, which ended up being against Arizona. We were playing great baseball the whole back half of the season. We had a great Big 12 Tournament. A great regional, a great super regional.

“I felt like we weren’t going to lose. There was no way. But a couple of balls bounce the right way for those guys and that one hurt,” he said prior to the Cardinals’ game against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field on Wednesday.

The comparisons to the previous Series teams and the ‘23 team are inevitable.

Big 12’s “best behind the plate”

In 2017, the Frogs fielded Evan Skoug behind the plate. The catcher was named the Big 12 Co-Player of the Year

He batted an impressive .272 and played in all 68 of the Frogs’ games.

Skoug was drafted after the 2017 season, landing with the Chicago White Sox, where he is currently playing in their Triple-A affiliate, the Charlotte Knights.

Catcher Karson Bowen has had a similar impact on this season’s team.

Although he’s a freshman, the backstop has put up impressive batting stats despite having almost 100 less at-bats than Skoug did in 2017.

Bowen is riding an 11-game hit streak with 11 RBI coming into the weekend series.

He was unanimously selected to the Big 12 All-Freshman team.

Pitching prowess

The Frogs haven’t had dominant pitching throughout this season. According to ncaa.com, their staff ranks 55th nationally in earned run average and 43rd in walks and hits per Inning pitched.

However, TCU pitchers were still honored by the Big 12.

Two freshman, starter Kole Klecker and reliever Ben Abeldt, were selected to the Big 1 All-Freshman team. They posted 4.18 and 3.74 ERA’s, respectively.

Head coach Kirk Sarloos said Klecker will be trusted with starting duties for the first game of the super regional.

Abeldt hasn’t allowed a run in his last 11 appearances and limited No. 3 Arkansas to one hit over 4.2 innings in the 12-4 victory in the Fayetteville regional championship game.

As a starter, Klecker ate innings for the Frogs, tallying 75 over the course of the season. He also performed well at the end of the regular season and into the postseason, only allowing four runs on nine hits over 18 innings in May.

In 2017, starter Nick Lodolo threw 78 innings and finished with a 4.39 ERA as a freshman. It was enough to earn him Big 12 All-Freshman honors.

Lodolo was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in 2019 and made his major league debut on April 13, 2022.

For more relief pitching recognition, the 2016 season peaks some interest.

Like in 2017, the Frogs dropped the semifinal game of the College World Series. This time it was to underdog Coastal Carolina, who would go on to beat Arizona in the championship series.

Reliever Durbin Feltman put up an ERA of just 1.56 over 34.2 innings in his 2016 campaign, tallying nine saves and earning himself Big 12 all-freshman honors.

In 2017, he fulfulled the closer role, tallying 17 saves, which remains the program record. His ERA ballooned to 3.64 over 29.2 innings, but he was productive enough to earn an all-Big 12 honorable mention. Feltman would also go on to set the school record for career saves with 32.

Feltman was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2018 and currently plays for the Double-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, the Midland Rockhounds.

Don’t forget the power

Brayden Taylor launched the 45th home run of his college career during the regional. That homer set, set the all-time TCU record, passing Royce Huffman, who played for the Frogs in the late 1990s.

This season, Taylor has hit 23 with nine coming in the month of May and the postseason.

Taylor has also tallied 69 RBI and 74 hits.

It mirrors a massive 2016 season from Baker, who put up 11 home runs, 62 RBI and 94 hits.

Both sluggers were honored as the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in their first seasons.

So what?

There have been worries about the TCU bullpen throughout the season and the Frogs had a middle-of-the-pack regular season, dropping out of the Top 25. They did not return to the rankings until they swept the Big 12 tournament.

However, the bats have saved the day. Even though the team ERA is up around 4.80, the Frogs have only lost twice in their last 19 games.

It’s a similar narrative to the team In 2016 and 2017, when the team made it to the semifinals at the College World Series in back-to-back years.

This time, it’s under the direction of head coach Kirk Sarloos, a difference from any of the other CWS appearances in school history.

Sarloos said he’s seen some similarites from being on the staff in 2016.

“There was some really good veteran leadership, but there were also a lot of guys that were really young and they didn’t know any better,” said Sarloos. “They kept their heads down and played baseball — then they looked up and they were in the world series.”

“This year, we’re dealing with a lot of young players [again] and they’ve put themselves in this position.,” he said.

Sarloos named a few of the veterans on this year’s team who haven’t had a shot at Omaha.

“There are a lot of guys that put a lot of time and effort and blood, sweat and tears into TCU baseball,” said Sarloos.

He referenced a wall in the Lupton Stadium classroom.

“We sit in this classroom a lot and there are a ton of pictures on that wall — none of those guys have been involved in any of it, he said.

Sarloos said those veterans want to leave their footprint on the program.

Taylor has with his homerun record, but the rest will look to make their mark with another deep run in Omaha.

This story was originally published June 8, 2023 at 2:04 PM.