Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships Start Thursday

The 2013 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships are slated to begin Thursday. TCU will open pool play against the tournament's No. 2 seed Oklahoma State at 7:30.

TCU NOTABLES
• TCU finished its inaugural season in the Big 12 with a 12-12 record, tied for sixth with Kansas.
• The Horned Frogs went 5-3 in Big 12 series this season.
• TCU is one of the hottest teams in the month of May with a 7-3 mark heading into the conference tournament.
• TCU's pitching staff finished the regular season with the league's second-best ERA at 2.73, a mark that ranks 14th nationally.
• Preston Morrison has thrown 16 1/3 inning without allowing an earned run dating back to his start at USC.
• Morrison's 1.22 ERA is fifth nationally.
• The Frogs ended the regular season as the top defensive team in the league with a .976 fielding percentage. That ranks 23rd nationally.
• Keaton Jones has reached base safely in 13 straight games.

INSIDE TCU'S BRACKET
• TCU's side of the bracket features No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3. West Virginia and No. 6 Kansas.
• The Frogs posted 2-1 series victories over Oklahoma State and West Virginia.
• Kansas took a 2-1 series decision in the Frogs inaugural Big 12 series back in March.
• TCU is a combined 5-4 against its side of the bracket.
• The other bracket features No. 1 Kansas State, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 5 Baylor and No. 8 Texas Tech.
• TCU was a combined 5-7 against the teams that comprise the other bracket.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT NOTABLES
• For just the third time under Coach Schlossnagle, the Horned Frogs failed to win the tournament crown in 2012. The only other seasons they didn't win were 2009 and 2011 .
• TCU has won six titles in the last nine years.
• TCU is 25-8 in conference tournaments under Jim Schlossnagle.
• TCU has had 36 players honored on the all-tournament squads over the last eight years.
• Kevin Cron, Derek Odell, Jerrick Suiter and Jantzen Witte all have all-tournament plaques on their resumes.
• TCU is 20-5 in road tournament games since the 2004 season.
• Three of TCU's eight losses in the conference tournament have come at Lupton Stadium, one was in Houston in 2004 and four in Las Vegas in 2011.
• The Frogs have won tournament titles at Houston, at Southern Miss, at UNLV twice, at TCU and at San Diego State.

NEUTRAL SITE NOTABLES
• TCU is 52-25 in neutral site contests under the direction of head coach Jim Schlossnagle.
• The Frogs have played in one neutral site game this season and are 1-0.
• TCU and UT Arlington squared off at The Ballpark In Arlington on March 19.
• The Frogs took a 5-4 decision over the Mavericks.
• Jerrick Suiter drove in two of the five runs and Stefan Crichton was the winning pitcher.

TURNING UP THE HEAT
May has been the best month of the season for the Horned Frogs as they have seven wins in 10 games. The 3-1 week last week helped the Frogs climb over the .500 mark for the first time this season.

Offensively, the bats have come to life as the Frogs are hitting .267 as a team and are averaging five runs per game. TCU has smoked 21 doubles, led by four each from Jantzen Witte and Boomer White. Derek Odell is the hottest hitter of the month with a .407 average.

On the mound, the Frogs have remained consistent with a 2.76 ERA. Riley Ferrell (0.00), Preston Morrison (0.86) and Alex Young (0.87) all have sub-1.00 ERA.

Defensively, the Frogs have committed just eight errors for a .979 fielding percentage. The Frogs have played five errorless games.

STREAKING
Keaton Jones enters the weekend carry a 13 game streak of reaching base safely. He has hits in 10 of the 13 games. Over the course of the streak, Jones is hitting .364 to raise his average to .238 on the season.

Even more impressive is his .451 on-base percentage. In addition to his 16 total hits, Jones has draw five walks and been hit by a pitch twice.

MR. RELIABLE
Preston Morrison has been a model of consistency this season. He leads the Big 12 with an average of 7.38 innings pitched per appearance.

His eight shutout innings against Texas this past Thursday helped him lower his ERA to 1.22 on the season. That's a mark that ranks fifth nationally and tops in the Big 12.

Morrison has lasted at least 5.2 innings in each of his starts this season and has gone seven in 11 of his 14 starts. Even more impressive are the seven starts that have lasted at least eight innings.

The sophomore has allowed two or fewer runs in 11 of his 14 starts. Twice he has allowed four runs. Opponents are hitting just .213 against him.

He enters this weekend with a streak of 16 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run.

HOLDING THEM IN CHECK
The TCU pitching staff has done a phenomenal job of keeping the Frogs in every game they've played this season. Only once has an opponent scored nine runs and just five times they have score seven or more.

TCU has held opponents to an average of 3.55 runs per game. Twenty two times, the opponent has scored two or fewer runs and 15 times, they have scored one or no runs in a game.

NO STRANGER TO CLOSE GAMES
Eighteen of TCU's last 25 games have been decided by three runs or less. The Frogs are 15-10 in those contests.

Sixteen of the Horned Frogs 54 games this season have been decided by one run. The Frogs own a 8-8 record in those contests, including wins in five of the last eight games decided by one run.

Additionally, the Frogs have played in seven games decided by two runs. Overall, TCU is 14-20 in games decided by three runs or less.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
The bullpen has been a strength of the team in 2013. TCU has used 11 pitchers in relief this season. In 209 1/3 innings pitched, the bullpen has put up a 2.41 ERA and held opponents to a .216 batting average. The group has struck out 198 and issued just 56 walks.

Leading the charge out of the bullpen has been Trey Teakell who has not allowed an earned run in 16 2/3 innings pitched. Trevor Seidenberger has been equally as effective with a 1.11 ERA in 14 appeances.

In the series against Texas, the Horned Frog bullpen tossed 10 2/3 innings. They allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits. The group issued four walks and struck out six.

ELIMINATING THE MISCUES
TCU leads the Big 12 with a .976 fielding percentage. The Frogs have done a good job minimizing the miscues. The Frogs have allowed a runner to reach base via an error only 29 times this season. TCU has surrendered 33 unearned runs this season.