TCU News: Traver Gets the Nod Friday

Baseball:

Mitchell Traver's patience rewards him with TCU's big start | The Star-Telegram

It's been a contentious debate among some fans, as to who should should get Friday's night start. Traver has struggled this season, but has the track record to get the job done against either Texas Tech or CCU. One thing we do know, is that there will be plenty of people rooting for him to succeed after how he has persevered.

“It’s exciting,” Traver said. “This is the opportunity we wanted to put ourselves in. We have confidence in whoever we run out there on the mound, so for me, being here as long as I have, through all the training and hard work, I’m just excited to go out there and see if we can punch our ticket.”

TCU reliever Burnett has win, save in CWS on torn ACL | The Star-Telegram

Ryan really exemplifies the character traits that have gotten this young TCU team within a win of the finals: toughness, unselfishness, and heart. His performance in Omaha has been stellar, and couldn't have happened for a better person.

“I just couldn’t sit out another year,” he said. “Honestly, it would have killed me. I love baseball. It doesn’t matter. I know scouts will see three injuries. But it’s for me. It’s for my team, also. We have such a good bond. We’re all close. I couldn’t let it slip by, just all the hard work of the past three falls.”

TCU 2-0 in CWS with inspiration from 7-year-old 'teammate' | Today's U

The headline puts teammate in quotes, but there isn't a player or a coach in the program that considers him anything less than an actual part of their team.

“It makes the baseball game really easy to go out there and play because you see a kid like Micah, who is one of the strongest humans I’ve ever met,” Howard said. “When you see the smile on his face, it just makes it easy to smile yourself. And he puts you in a good mood immediately when you see him. And he’s just such a huge part of this team. We say it a lot, but it’s hard to even give everyone outside of our program an idea of how much he really means to us.”

TCU Baseball team gets lift as 'Micah' visits Omaha | The star-Telegram

Thankfully, Micah had a really good day physically in Omaha, and was truly able to enjoy the experience.

There are some great tidbits on Howard, who managed to gut out a win Tuesday without his best stuff, and the TCU offense, which has been one of the best in the CWS field despite not breaking out to this point.

“This is honestly the most energy I’ve seen him have over an extended period of time,” he said. “He was full of himself all day. He was enjoying the attention, which he’s more than deserved. And it was just good to see him and have him be around the guys. And anything that brightens his day has just been awesome. So to see a smile on his face, and to see his mom — she was in a great mood — it’s just great. It’s just great having him around.”