Month two recap - Pt.II

April had plenty of positives, but there were some negatives from the month for TCU:

1.) Held up: TCU fans will remember the bottom of the first inning of the 3-2 loss to Texas A&M. Ben Carruthers reached on a double, then got to third on a wild pitch. Bryan Kervin grounded out to the pitcher. With one out, Clint Arnold lined out to right field. The gamble is there - Do you take the chance and send Carruthers in (thereby forcing the right fielder to make a great throw), or do you play it safe, and hope another batter will send in Carruthers?  Carruthers was held, and Chris Ellington grounded out on the first pitch to end the inning. Texas A&M went on to win, but was that play the game-winning run for TCU, and could it have changed the dynamics later when closer Andrew Cashner entered the game?

2.) Still stranded: The Frogs began the year struggling with players left on base. Through March, TCU was fourth worst in the Mountain West Conference with runners left on base, but finished April third. Ironically, the top three teams in the MWC are at the bottom. A look at where TCU stands:

Air Force - 301
Utah - 321
UNLV - 346
BYU - 368
TCU - 384
New Mexico - 403
San Diego State - 412

3.) They got away: TCU had four losses in April, but two came by one run margins to Oklahoma (5-4 in 12 innings) and Texas A&M (3-2). While it appears the Frogs are in line for a regional berth, a win over either team, especially the Aggies, could've boosted their RPI even more and all but punched their ticket. It would've been another impressive thing to show recruits as well.

4.) Home delivery: Sending runners in has improved, but it's also still a weakness of TCU's. The Frogs finished March next to last in the conference with 115 RBIs, but they were fourth after April (261).

5.) No easy task: You certainly can't be too tough on a team that faces a dominant ace like TCU did on April 25 against San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg. The Aztecs ace held TCU to one hit in a 4-1 victory. As mentioned before, Strasburg was the best pitcher the Frogs faced to that point, but come postseason play, teams that want to stick around in regionals and super regionals must find a way to hit dominant pitching. A look at some of the pitchers from the top five teams in the current Baseball America rankings -

Miami (1) - Chris Hernandez is 8-0 and has a 2.70 ERA in 70 innings pitched.
UNC (2) - Alex White (7-2) has a 2.13 ERA with 61 strikeouts and 23 walks in 55 IP.
Arizona State (3) - Tommy Rafferty (10-0) has allowed 21 earned runs in 52 2/3 innings.
Fla. State (4) - Matt Fairel (8-1) has a 2.92 ERA with 62 Ks, 23 ER and 28 BB in 71 innings.
Nebraska (5) - Johnny Dorn (5-1) has a 2.69 ERA and opponents are batting just .169 against him.

-Trae Thompson