The No. 3 TCU baseball team will take the field at Lupton Stadium this weekend against No. 12 Cal State Fullerton.
TCU enters the weekend with a 3-1 record after its opening series against Kansas and a midweek win against Baylor. The Frogs won two out of three games last weekend against the Jayhawks, losing Sunday’s game in 14 innings.
The Frogs’ most recent action came in a 2-0 win over Baylor in Waco on Tuesday night.
TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle said he was pleased with how his team played in the first four games of the season and that he liked how the team bounced back Tuesday night.
“Your success is going to be determined by how you handle adversity,” Schlossnagle said. “We learned a lot about ourselves, and it was all good.”
Cal State Fullerton comes to Fort Worth with a 3-2 record. Fullerton also suffered a 4-3 defeat in extra innings last weekend against North Carolina.
Schlossnagle said Fullerton was a quality opponent that matched up well with TCU’s squad.
“Fullerton is as talented of a team as there is in the country,” he said. “We won’t face many teams that can match up with us as far as starting pitching, but Fullerton is one of them.”
The starting pitching for Fullerton includes two pitchers who are on Baseball America’s top 100 draft prospects list, which was compiled Jan. 3.
Right hander Jake Floethe, a transfer from Fresno State, is ranked 87th on that list. Noe Ramirez, a pre-season All-American, is 28th.
TCU’s pitching staff has gotten off to a good start in 2011. Junior relief pitcher Erik Miller said the pitching staff was working effectively.
“We saw what the freshmen can do Tuesday night, throwing the first shutout of the year,” Miller said. “And the rest of the guys [on the pitching staff] have picked up their own slack as well.”
Junior shortstop Taylor Featherston said the team had been on top of its game and that the pitching staff had been lights-out.
The Frogs’ rotation will be slightly different this weekend against the Titans 8212; sophomore Matt Purke won’t pitch until Sunday’s game.
Purke was held to a pitch count of 56 pitches in the season opener last Friday. Schlossnagle would not give details on Purke’s pitch count for this weekend.
“All the pitchers are on a pitch count this early in the season,” Schlossnagle said. “Purke will be out there as long as we need him to be out there, and we’ll get on to the next guy.”
Featherston said the team is anxious to get on the field again this weekend.
“We’re going to be ready to go,” he said. “It’s going to be a fun one.”
The Frogs have taken two out of three games from Fullerton each of the past two years.
No. 3 TCU vs No. 12 Cal State Fullerton
All games will be broadcast on TV on The Mtn. and on radio on KTCU-FM 88.7.
Game 1
When: 6:30 p.m. Friday
Where: Lupton Stadium
Probable starters: Kyle Winkler (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Noe Ramirez (1-0, 1.29 ERA)
Game 2
When: 2 p.m. Saturday
Where: Lupton Stadium
Probable starters: Steven Maxwell (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs. Tyler Pill (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
Game 3
When: 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Lupton Stadium
Probable starters: Matt Purke (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Colin O’Connell (1-0, 1.29 ERA)