The university baseball team will return to the diamond Friday night for the first game in a three-game weekend series against the University of San Francisco.
The weekend series continues TCU’s nine-game homestand.
The Horned Frogs (13-16) are coming off a 10-0 win and midweek series sweep of UT-Pan American Wednesday while the San Francisco Dons (13-15) are coming off a Wednesday night 4-8 loss against Sacramento State.
Coming into Friday’s game, TCU has won four of its last five games, and San Francisco has won two of its past three games.
Friday’s game will be the second of nine road games for the Diamond Dons.
Horned Frog junior Paul Hendrix extended his hitting streak to eight games on Wednesday’s win. He also recorded his fourth straight game with an RBI with the past three being multiple-RBI games.
TCU sophomore Derek Odell also had a multiple-RBI night, giving him a team-leading six. He has now hit safely in five straight games going into the weekend.
Also on TCU’s offensive night, sophomore Kevin Cron recorded his first home run of the season. Head coach Jim Schlossnagle described Cron as a “home-run hitter.”
“You could see kind of a weight fall of [his] shoulders to where [he] feels a little bit better about [himself],” Schlossnagle said.
Sophomore Cody Jones was able to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 13 games. He also drew two walks in Wednesday’s game, which gives him the Big 12 Conference lead with 29 walks.
For the Dons, Bradley Zimmer has four home runs and 16 RBIs while Justin Maffei has a team-leading .325 batting average.
Zimmer also has two triples and a team-high eight stolen bases. Although San Francisco has stolen 24 bases, it has allowed 53.
The Dons’ pitching staff has a 3.29 ERA in 28 games, and the anchor for the team, righty Adam Cimber, has four saves on the season.
The TCU pitching staff has a Big 12-leading 3.10 ERA.
Friday night will see TCU sophomore right-hander Preston Morrison take on San Francisco’s Haden Hinkle. Morrison ranks second in the Big 12 with an ERA of 1.23. Hinkle has come out of the bullpen in 11 games.
The San Francisco defense has committed 40 errors this season, which has allowed opponents to score 22 unearned runs.
The Horned Frogs have a .976 fielding percentage, which puts the team in second in the Big 12.
This will be the first time the two teams have met in baseball. Friday night’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Lupton Stadium.
When: Friday at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Lupton Stadium, Fort Worth
TV: FOX College Sports
Radio: KTCU 88.7 FM, FrogVision
When: Saturday at 4 p.m.
Where: Lupton Stadium, Fort Worth
TV: none
Radio: KTCU 88.7 FM, FrogVision
When: Sunday at 1 p.m.
Where: Lupton Stadium, Fort Worth
TV: none
Radio: KTCU 88.7 FM, FrogVision
Gametracker will be available for all games.
