TCU baseball opens up a three-game weekend series Friday night against a California team that has yet to win a series this season.

Both teams enter the weekend riding two-game win streaks. The Frogs are 7-1 on the year for the fifth time under head coach Jim Schlossnagle.

“Cal has an outstanding program,” Schlossnagle said. “They’ve gotten off to a little slow start but they got a big win Tuesday against Stanford.”

Johnny Ray will be back on the mound for the Frogs tonight, and TCU will likely be facing Bears starting pitcher Sam Stoutenborough, who is 0-1 on the season with an ERA of 4.00 in 8.2 innings pitched in two appearances. 

Ray is the reigning Big 12 pitcher of the week after a complete-game shutout Saturday and is set to make his third start of the season. 

Despite California’s 3-5 record, Schlossnagle said the Bears still have a talented roster full of familiar faces.

“They have some talented players and a couple pitchers on their staff that we recruited so we know how talented they are, and they play in a great conference,” Schlossnagle said.“You can be a really good team and have a slow start to the season, and that’s where Cal probably is at right now.”

California is hitting .245 at a team and averaging 5.25 runs per game. TCU’s pitchers have a combined ERA of 2.28, good for second in the Big 12 and 30th nationally.

Quentin Selma, California’s most explosive offensive weapon, leads the Bears with a .367 average and 15 RBIs.

California’s pitching staff is allowing 5.50 earned runs per game this season while TCU is averaging 9.6 runs per game, good for second in the Big 12 and 12th nationally.

Schlossnagle said the Frogs have been swinging the bat pretty well, maybe even more than the coaches anticipated going into the season.

The Frogs have two players, Gene Wood and Gray Rodgers, who are both batting .400.

TCU’s 11 home runs on the season rank 10th nationally.

First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Lupton Stadium.