TCU vs. Kansas State: Preview and Game Thread

Frogs return to conference play this weekend

By Marshall Weber May 2, 2014, 12:57pm CDT

Original content via GoFrogs.com

TCU pushed its season-long winning streak to nine games with a 14-4 victory at Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday night.
The 14 runs scored were a season-high for the offense.
TCU finished the month of April with a 16-1 record and climbed up to 12th in the RPI.
TCU improved to 13-0 when scoring six or more runs this season.
Cody Jones swiped his 20th stolen base of the season, becoming the first Horned Frog since Ramon Moses in 2004 to have 20 in a season.
TCU has 12 shutouts this season, one shy of the Big 12 record of 13 set by Texas in 2011.
Preston Morrison leads the Big 12 with his 1.42 ERA, while Brandon Finnegan paces the league in strikeouts (96) and wins (7).
Garrett Crain has been the hottest hitter during the win streak with a .414 average and eight RBIs.
TCU has surrendered the second fewest stolen bases in the league this season with just 27.

Kansas State is coming off being swept at West Virginia last week and are just 4-11 in Big 12 play.
The Wildcats have just one win in their last six games.
The Wildcats lead the Big 12 in batting average (.292) and stolen bases (80).
Offensively, the 2013 Big 12 Player of the Year, Ross Kivett paces the squad with a .339 batting average.
Kivett ranks second in the Big 12 and is a perfect 19-for-19 in stolen bases.
Kivett along with Austin Fisher are the only two Wildcats to start all 45 games this season.
On the mound, Kansas State ranks last with its team ERA of 4.28.
Ethan Landon paces the pitching staff with 20 appearances and boasts a 1.73 ERA.
Defensively, the Wildcats rank seventh in the league with a .963 fielding percentage. They have allowed a league-leading 51 stolen bases.

TCU and Kansas State will be meeting for just the 13th time in series history.
TCU holds a 7-5 lead in the series.
The Frogs and the Wildcats met on the diamond in 2013 for the first time since 1987.
The teams split a doubleheader in Fort Worth. TCU won game one, 4-3, and Kansas State won game two, 7-6.
Kansas State took a 2-1 series victory over the Horned Frogs in its first meeting as conference foes.

TCU has put together an impressive nine game winning streak that has featured six shutouts. The Horned Frogs have outscored the opposition 49-7.
Of the Frogs' 76 hits, 22 have gone for extra bases. Garrett Crain is TCU's leading hitter at .414 and leading run producer with eight RBIs. The Frogs have worked 32 walks and swiped 10 stolen bases.
On the mound, the Frogs boast a miniscule 0.67 ERA and are holding opponents to a .194 batting average. TCU has surrendered just six extra base hits.

In the past four games Cody Jones added three stolen bases to his season total, giving him 20 for the season. That mark is tied for first in the Big 12 and ranks 31st nationally.
The 20 stolen bases are the most for a Horned Frog since Ramon Moses stole 23 in 2004.
Jones is on pace to lead the team in stolen base for the second consecutive season. The last Horned Frog to pace the squad in consecutive seasons was Clint Arnold in 2007-08

Since the calendar flipped to April, the Horned Frogs have been on a tear to the tune of a 16-1 record. Included in that total is an 8-1 record in conference play. The Frogs have climbed all the way up to second in the Big 12 standings, just 1.5 games out of first place behind Oklahoma State.
The Horned Frogs are no strangers to heating up at the right time as they boast a 259-83 (.757) record in the final two months of the regular season under the guidance of Schlossnagle.
On March 28, the Horned Frogs were 15-10 and found themselves with an RPI of 104. Since then, they are 16-3 overall and have climbed to 12th in the RPI.

On March 22, Preston Morrison had his shortest stint as a starter, allowing four runs in two innings. In the five starts since, Morrison has been nothing short of dominating.
The junior has posted a 0.46 ERA, allowing just two runs in 39 innings pitched. Additionally, he has fanned 29 (seven in three of his last four starts) and walked just five.
For his career, Morrison has started 37 games. TCU is 24-13 in games he starts. He boasts 28 career quality starts (6 or more innings). He has gone at least seven innings 24 times and eight innings 16 times. As a starter, he has a career ERA of 1.85.
Morrison boasts a career record of 22-8. His next win will tie him with Jake Arrieta (2006-07) and Shawn Thompson's (1997-00) career win total of 23. He is four innings pitched shy of cracking the top five as well.

Riley Ferrell has played an integral part of TCU's nine game winning streak, notching a save in four of the contests.
In seven of his last eight appearances, he has tallied a save. He's allowed just seven base runners total in those eight appearances and has 19 strikeouts in 9 2/3 innings pitched.
Ferrell is only the fourth pitcher in school history to tally double-digit saves. Tim Grieve was the first to reach the plateau in 1994 with 10. Robbie Findlay tallied 11 in 2004 and Sam Demel set the school record in 2007 with 13.
In his career, Ferrell has 13 saves. That is tied for the fourth-most in school history with Findlay. Demel holds the record with 20 saves from 2005-07.

Against Texas Tech, Keaton Jones dropped down two sacrifice bunts to give him 31 total sacrifice (two sac flies and 29 sacrifice bunts) in his career. The bunts propelled Jones up the career charts into fourth all-time behind Jantzen Witte (41), Bryan Kervin (40) and Terry Trofholz (33).
Additionally, Jones is staring at the top five in a defensive category. With 474 career assists, he is seven away from tying Brad Wallace's career total of 481 from 1992-96.

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