Baseball: TCU to Play Kansas State in Round One of the Big 12 Tournament
The Horned Frogs wrapped their regular season with a 2-1 series victory at Kansas State, officially finishing the campaign with a 33-22 record.
After a tough stretch in the middle of its schedule where losses seemed to pile up, TCU has closed its season out on a positive note, winning 10 of its last 12 games. In round one of the conference tournament, the Frogs will see a very familiar foe.
As stated above, TCU finished the regular season in Manhattan, Kansas where the team lost the first game of the series, but won the following two games and secured the series win. Elijah Nunez's walk-off home run robbery in the final game gave the Frogs all the momentum they will need as they head to the postseason.
Kansas State finished with an identical overall record as TCU, but unlike the Horned Frogs, the Wildcats did not finish strong. KSU comes into the tournament having lost four of its last five games. The Wildcats rank eighth in the Big 12 in batting average, sixth in batting average and sixth in runs scored. Those numbers don't pop off the screen but defensively, the Wildcats are a much stronger team. KSU sits in third place in the conference in errors and third in fielding percentage. Its pitching numbers are average, but the fielding often carries the load.
TCU walks into this game as arguably the hottest team in the Big 12. The bats are rolling and the pitching is much improved; the Frogs have allowed more than four runs just twice since May 1st.
Wednesday's matchup will be played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, where TCU opened its season in February. This is a good sign for the Frogs as they have been the far better team when playing at a neutral site. TCU is 4-2 at neutral sites while Kansas State is 0-3. The sample sizes aren't huge, but this is certainly a promising stat for Kirk Saarloos' squad.
The Frogs must have a great tournament if they want to sneak into the national postseason field and that will start with Wednesday's game against the Wildcats. The first pitch is scheduled for 9 AM and can be watched on ESPNU.
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