Once again, postseason college baseball returns to Fort Worth this weekend.
TCU will host a regional at Lupton Stadium, the sixth regional in program history. The Frogs will face Oral Roberts on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Gonzaga plays Arizona State in the afternoon game at 2 p.m.
TCU goes into the regionals with a little momentum, having just won the Big 12 Tournament. The Frogs now have 16 conference championships (eight regular season titles, eight tournament titles) under head coach Jim Schlossnagle.
“I know everybody around here gets excited about hosting and national seeds and all that kind of stuff, but for me, I just wanted to be in,” said Schlossnagle. “We just want to be in the thing and anything on top of that is great. We’re excited about playing at home.”
Coming off a trip to the College World Series last year, the Frogs faced uncertainty this time around with a roster full of youth and inexperience. However, you wouldn’t have really noticed it because it looked like they didn’t skip a beat this season. TCU goes into Friday’s game with a 42-15 record.
“Coach Schloss just said our best baseball is ahead of us,” said freshman first baseman/pitcher Luken Baker. “We started playing better baseball ever since he started saying that.”
Baker helped drive TCU to the Big 12 tourney title, being named the tournament MVP. He had the game-winning solo home run in the 11-10 win over West Virginia for the Frogs' second title in three years. Baker had four home runs in the tournament.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
“It’s been awesome, it’s been more than I could possibly image,” said Baker, when asked about choosing TCU over turning pro. “I love my decision and I’m really happy I decided to come to college.”
The winner of the Fort Worth Regional will play the winner of the College Station (Texas A&M) Regional in the Super Regionals. The four teams in that regional include the Aggies, Minnesota, Wake Forest and Binghamton.
