There are stark differences between southern California and south-central Oklahoma. The biggest difference for No. 12 TCU might be that the Frogs haven’t lost seven straight games to conference opponent San Diego State as they enter a weekend series with the Aztecs after losing their seventh in a row to OU Tuesday evening.
TCU (22-11, 7-2 MWC) started its first of a five-game road stretch with a 13-6 loss in Norman, Okla. — the Frogs are 2-8 against the Sooners under head coach Jim Schlossnagle and haven’t beat OU since April 17, 2007.
The Frogs are 5-5 against San Diego State (11-22, 5-4 MWC) at Tony Gwynn Stadium in San Diego, Calif. and currently hold a 1.5 game lead over BYU and Utah for first place in the MWC standings.
The Aztecs aren’t a .500 team, much less a top 25 team, but perceptions won’t mean anything if TCU doesn’t play well.
“We got to understand how we lose games, it’s real simple,” Schlossnagle said after the loss to OU. “You look at the scoreboard [and] you have to recognize that when you play bad against anybody you’re not going to win; when you play bad against somebody good you’re gonna get beat bad, and that’s what happened.”
With early season TCU baseball chatter focused on a preseason No. 1 ranking and a second straight berth to the College World Series, the Frogs must focus on taking care of their conference slate before thinking about NCAA postseason play. The Frogs are now four games off pace of their 2010 record 33 games into the season, which stood at 26-7.
In the games TCU has lost this season, fingers could more often than not be pointed at errors and untimely hitting: TCU committed four errors and had 11 hits to OU’s 12, yet TCU was outscored 13-6.
“Look at the scoreboard — we had one less hit than they did, but they beat us by seven,” Schlossnagle said after the loss.
“So walk five [batters], [make] four errors…whether it’s Oklahoma consistently here for the last five years or it’s anybody else, you’re not going to win any games that way.”
While the Aztecs are hitting only .242 as a team and sitting 11 games under .500, they’ve managed a 5-4 record against conference opponents, which could bode well for SDSU winning at least a game in the series.
This season the Frogs have had problems sweeping their three-game series, losing at least a game in six of eight weekend series on the season. Saturday the Aztecs will put Cole Swanson (2-1, 2.84 ERA) on the mound in a bid to out-duel sophomore pitcher Matt Purke (4-1, 1.47 ERA) in what may be SDSU’s best chance at a win.
Looking ahead
The Frogs will have another crack at top 25 team after the SDSU series: TCU will travel to College Station to play No. 5 Texas A&M before playing three games against UNLV next weekend at Lupton Stadium. Also circle April 26 on the calendar, when the Sooners come to Lupton Stadium to play Game 2 of their season series with TCU.
Notes
Sophomore third baseman Jantzen Witte tied a school record with three doubles against OU in the Tuesday evening loss.
Junior left fielder Jason Coats will take a 13-game hitting streak with him to SDSU.
SDSU’s Cody Smith is 7-for-7 stealing bases this season.
Friday will mark the 28th time the Frogs and Aztecs have met; TCU holds a 16-10 all-time series lead over SDSU.
TCU (22-11, 7-2 MWC) at San Diego State (11-22, 5-4 MWC)
Game 1
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Probable starters: Kyle Winkler (5-1, 1.26 ERA) Corey Black (1-2, 4.80 ERA)
Where: Tony Gwynn Stadium — San Diego, Calif.
TV: CBS College Sports
Radio: KTCU-FM 88.7
GoFrogs.com: Follow GameTracker or listen live.
Game 2
When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Probable starters: Matt Purke (4-1, 1.47 ERA) vs. Cole Swanson (2-1, 2.84 ERA)
Where: Tony Gwynn Stadium — San Diego, Calif.
TV: None
Radio: KTCU-FM 88.7
GoFrogs.com: Follow GameTracker or listen live.
Game 3
When: 3 p.m. Sunday
Probable starters: Steven Maxwell(5-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. TBA
Where: Tony Gwynn Stadium — San Diego, Calif.
TV: None
Radio: KTCU-FM 88.7
GoFrogs.com: Follow GameTracker or listen live.
