Lupton Baseball Stadium (Courtesy of TCU Athletics)
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
FORT WORTH, Texas – The TCU Baseball team released its 2009 schedule Tuesday morning. The 55-game slate features 27 home games, 15 contests against NCAA tournament teams and seven against Super Regional participants. The Frogs will also host the 2009 MWC Postseason Tournament for the second consecutive year.
Coming off another 40-win campaign and its third straight regular season title, the Horned Frogs have put together another challenging slate of games for the regular season.
“Once again, we’ve tried to put together one of the more competitive schedules in the country to challenge and prepare our team for postseason play and get our fan-base excited about seeing some of the better college programs in the country compete in Lupton Stadium,” said Head Coach Jim Schlossnagle.
For the first time since the 2007 campaign, the Frogs will open the season on the road. TCU makes the return trip to Super Regional participant Cal State Fullerton for a three-game series beginning Feb. 20.
The Frogs’ home-opener comes Tuesday Feb. 24 against NCAA-qualifier Dallas Baptist followed by a Wednesday meeting against Texas State on the 25th.
TCU hits the road for a second-straight weekend as they head to Oxford, Miss. for a three-game series at Ole Miss that is part of a four-game road swing beginning Feb. 27. The Frogs will wrap up the trip with a voyage to Arlington for the first of two meetings against UT-Arlington on March 3.
“Hopefully, opening on the road at Cal State Fullerton and Mississippi, two programs who have hosted Regionals and Super Regionals in the past, will prepare our players for a better performance at the end of the year,” remarked Schlossnagle.
The first of six match-ups against Big 12 opponents comes on March 4 when the Frogs play host to Baylor, opening up a four-game home stand. NCAA Super Regional participant Wichita State heads to TCU for the first home weekend series of the season March 6-8.
“Similar to last year, when we had Fullerton and Ole Miss on our campus for a three game series, having Wichita State at home for three games should provide a great atmosphere for our fans,” said Schlossnagle. “They will certainly travel well and we’ll need the Horned Frog faithful to show up in large numbers.”
A brief trip to San Marcos on March 10 will complete the home-and-home series against Texas State before the Frogs begin another four-game home stretch. Minnesota heads to Fort Worth for a three-game series beginning March 13. The Frogs first meeting with Oklahoma comes on March 17.
The Frogs begin defense of their regular season crown on March 20 when they head to Salt Lake City for the first of two three-game series against Utah.
A pair of mid-week contests follow with Stephen F. Austin coming to Fort Worth on March 24 and a trip to Waco to wrap-up the season series against Baylor on March 25.
March 27 kicks off a season-long seven-game home stand. TCU will host San Diego State for three contests followed by the second match-up against UT-Arlington on April 1. The home stand concludes with a three-game set against New Mexico April 3-5.
For the first time since the 2001 season, TCU will face-off against Texas in Austin on Tuesday April 7, beginning a stretch of eight road games. The Frogs will continue the trek south as they head to Edinburg for a three-game series at UT-Pan America April 9-11.
After a Tuesday, April 14 meeting at Oklahoma, the Frogs will return to conference action at Air Force. The three-game series is slated to take place in the AAA ballpark in Colorado Springs April 17-19.
Following a midweek series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi April 21-22, the Frogs will hit the road again as they travel to San Diego State. The three-game series begins April 24. TCU wraps up the road trip at Texas A&M on April 28.
The final seven-game home stand of the season commences April 29 against Houston Baptist. BYU comes to town for a three-game series April 30-May 2. TCU closes out its regular season home schedule with a three-game tilt against Utah May 8-10.
Four road contests close out the regular season as the Frogs head to Dallas for a final meeting against Dallas Baptist. TCU will wrap up conference play on the road at UNLV May 14-16.
“I expect this year to be the most competitive our league has ever been,” said Schlossnagle. “The conference tournament at TCU was a great experience last year for the league and I’m sure we’ll do everything we can to make it even better this year.”
TCU will go for its sixth straight conference tournament crown beginning May 19. For the second year in a row, the Frogs will host the postseason conference tournament. The winner of the tourney earns an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
The regular season gets under way Feb. 20 at Cal State Fullerton. The Frogs home-opener is slated for Feb. 24 against Dallas Baptist at 6:30 p.m.
1 comment
TCU is not afraid to schedule teams to get them ready for the 2009 campaign. Fullerton, Ole Miss and Wichita State! Plus Texas, OU and A&M in single game match ups. WOW
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