TCU Baseball To Open 2023 Season At Globe Life Field
Once again, the TCU Horned Frogs baseball team will start their season playing in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington. The six participating teams for the 3rd annual event, to be held February 17-19, 2023, were announced on Monday. Also playing in the tournament will be Texas, Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Missouri, and Vanderbilt.
TCU, Texas, and Arkansas played in the inaugural State Farm College Baseball Classic in 2021. The other teams that year were Texas Tech, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State. All six of the teams were preseason Top Ten that year. The three Big 12 teams played each of the three SEC teams. With three teams from each league scheduled for the 2023 classic, that format will be repeated in 2023.
In 2021, both Arkansas and Ole Miss went 3-0, each beating the three Big 12 schools. TCU was the only Big 12 school to win one game, beating Mississippi State on the tournament’s second day.
In 2022, for the second annual event, the participating teams were Arizona, Auburn, Kansas State, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. The three Big 12 schools each played the other three teams. Arizona went undefeated at 3-0. Auburn and Oklahoma both went 2-1; Michigan and Texas Tech went 1-2, and Kansas State went 0-3.
Here’s how the six teams that will play in the 2023 State Farm College Baseball Showdown did in 2022:
Arkansas (46-21)
The Razorbacks started the year as a Top Five team but struggled down the stretch of the regular season. They finished 2nd in the SEC West and went 0-2 in the SEC tournament. They went on the road in the postseason to win the Stillwater Regional and Chapel Hill Super Regional. They advanced to the College World Series, going 3-2 in Omaha, losing in the semifinals to the eventual national champion, Ole Miss. Arkansas finished No. 4 in the final D1Baseball.com poll.
Missouri (28-23)
The Tigers finished last in the SEC East and only one game ahead of Mississippi State in the entire SEC. They did not qualify for the SEC tournament.
Oklahoma State (42-22)
The Cowboys went on the road to open the season in 2022, winning their series over top-ten Vanderbilt. They will once again face the Commodores to open the season when the two meet at Globe Life Field. OSU had a strong year and spent most of the last month as a Top Five team. They finished tied for 2nd in the Big 12 and were the No. 4 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. They did earn the No. 7 national seed and hosted the Stillwater Regional, where Arkansas defeated them. The Cowboys finished No. 17 in the final D1Baseball.com poll.
TCU (38-22)
The Horned Frogs won the Big 12 regular season outright but only went 1-2 in the Big 12 Tournament. They were the No. 2 seed in the College Station Regional, where they lost to Texas A&M in an epic last game of the season. TCU finished No. 23 in the final D1Baseball.com poll.
Texas (47-22)
The Longhorns began the season as the No. 1 team in the nation. They stumbled in the middle of the season and ended up getting the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 tournament. They lost in the championship to Oklahoma, but it was enough to get the No. 9 national seed in the postseason. They won the Austin Regional and defeated East Carolina in the Greenville Super Regional to advance to Omaha. They went 0-2 in the College World Series, losing to Notre Dame and Texas A&M. Texas finished No. 8 in the final D1Baseball.com poll.
Vanderbilt (39-23)
The Commodores started the season as a Top-Ten team. They finished the season with a losing record in SEC play (14-16), which gave them 4th place in the SEC East. They beat Ole Miss, the eventual national champion, in the first round of the SEC tournament only to lose to then No. 1 Tennessee in the second round and were eliminated in the third round by Kentucky. They were the No. 2 seed in the Corvallis Regional and ended up being eliminated by Oregon State.
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