2017 NCAA Super Regional Preview: Missouri State-Texas Christian

MISSOURI STATE-TCU

Hosted by TCU • Lupton Stadium • Fort Worth, Texas
Follow the action on Twitter: @MSUBearBaseball | @TCU_Baseball

Missouri State (43-18) at TCU (45-16)
(All Times Eastern)
Saturday
6 p.m. (ESPNU)
Sunday
6 p.m.
Monday
TBA

Evan Skoug

TCU

Coach: Jim Schlossnagle
Postseason History: Seventh super regional appearance (fourth straight). Seeking fifth trip to Omaha (fourth straight).
Postseason Route: No. 1 seed in Forth Worth Regional (No. 6 national seed). Went 3-0, outscoring opponents 29-10 and defeating Dallas Baptist 15-3 in the regional final.

Scouting Report
(anonymous coach breaks down the Horned Frogs)

“They’re pretty systematic in their offensive approach. They make quick adjustments. If you get in there and get pretty consistent with way you attack the hitters, they make pretty good adjustments and I think that’s why their offense is pretty good. I do think it hurts them quite a bit with (Luken Baker) being out. It doesn’t make lineup near as deep. Wanhanen is a pretty good hitter, but they platoon him when they face a lefthander. It does make them not quite as deep, not as scary. Skoug I think was feeling the pressure a little bit during the (conference) tournament. He was just swinging. He’s obviously a great player and can get going at any point in time. They were definitely different with Baker in the lineup vs. what they are now.

“We kind of figured out that you don’t throw (Skoug) strikes. You might tease him a little bit here and there. (Warner) is going pretty good, but even then you feel like you’ve got a shot to get that guy out. He’s a good player, I like him a lot, but he’s not nearly as scary as those other two. I think with Skoug, you’ve got to make quality pitches and if you walk him, you walk him. He’s not going to do a whole lot of damage on the bases. I think you’ve got to make him swing the bat out of the zone, which he’ll do and he’s got to be patient enough to take that walk. I think Brown at the top makes them go a little bit. They’re a good offensive club. But I definitely think it is different with Baker out.

“When they got Janczak back, it just puts their starters back in the spots they should be. Lodolo, he’s not ready to go out there and win super regional Game 1. He’s good, he’s got great stuff, but he just makes too many mistakes. I don’t think he’s a guy right now you can rely on to win a pitching duel in a super regional environment. Janczak is that guy. He’s been there, he’s done that. The thing with Howard is if he gets going early, gets the cutter going and you don’t get to him early, he’s got a chance to roll and get five, six, seven innings and have a real quality start. If you can kind of pressure him early, I think he starts to doubt it a little bit and the ball starts to elevate and the cutter isn’t what it should be. I think with Traver, if he overthrows then he’s not very good. He’ll start throwing 92-94, but it’s flat, it’s up. I think (pitching coach Kirk) Saarloos has done such a good job with getting him just to pitch, be 89-91 and pitch. Be down angle and spin a breaking ball. You would think lefthanders would beat him up pretty good, but they don’t. I think that’s been a key for him is getting the lefthanded hitters out with the changeup. To me, I think the biggest key is on the back end. I thought their ‘pen was really good when they’re right. If they’re right, they definitely have the guys back there to get it done.

“(Their experience is) absolutely vital just because their offensive guys don’t panic. The one thing I think they’re really good at, they’re really good at beating frontline arms. They realize they’re not going to beat that guy up with a ton of hits, but they get deep into counts, they wear guys down, they get mistakes, they don’t miss them and they’re really good at pressuring you on the defensive side just to minimize that guy’s outing. They wear you out on bases, you really have to pay attention to them, a ton of pickoffs, you know they’re not going to give you cheap outs. It just wears guys out, wears them out into mistakes. They realize if they have really good quality at bats early in the game, it’s going to end up paying off for them. And they don’t panic when it’s 1-0, 0-0 after four. They know they’re going to get to the guy. I think that has a lot to do with back-to-back World Series appearances. Those guys have all been there before. They know how to beat that frontline arm.”

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	Avg.	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Evan Skoug	L	Jr.	.278	.387	.547	18	61	38	84	3
1B	Connor Wanhanen	L	Jr.	.278	.436	.339	0	14	28	33	9
2B	Cam Warner	R	Sr.	.286	.367	.386	5	48	30	33	10
3B	Elliott Barzilli	R	Sr.	.236	.296	.358	5	26	17	48	4
SS	Ryan Merrill	L	Sr.	.242	.339	.371	5	39	27	36	16
OF	Josh Watson	S	So.	.241	.366	.307	1	36	38	56	5
OF	Nolan Brown	L	Sr.	.290	.387	.411	3	35	28	45	26
OF	Austen Wade	L	Jr.	.355	.463	.523	5	37	45	47	15
DH	Zach Humphreys	R	Fr.	.269	.368	.423	2	17	12	13	3
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Jared Janczak	R	So.	9	0	0	1.78	76	18	81	.161
SP	Brian Howard	R	Sr.	10	3	0	4.17	90.2	33	90	.226
SP	Mitchell Traver	R	Sr.	4	1	0	3.79	40.1	19	48	.205
RP	Durbin Feltman	R	So.	2	2	16	4.05	26.2	14	32	.224

Jake Burger (Courtesy of Missouri State)

Missouri State

Coach: Keith Guttin
Postseason History: Third super regional appearance. Seeking second trip to Omaha.
Postseason Route: No. 2 seed in Fayetteville Regional. Went 3-1, defeating No. 1 seed Arkansas 3-2 in regional final.

Scouting Report
(anonymous coach breaks down the Bears)

“I’ll tell you what, they have one of the best 1-2 punches in college baseball with (Jake) Burger and (Jeremy) Eierman. You have to go back to the Palmeiro-Clark era (at Mississippi State) for a better 1-2. Those two guys are just impossible to figure out; If Burger doesn’t get you, Eierman will; They’re both very good hitters, disciplined.

“But I’ll tell you, their strength is in their ‘pen. Not so much their starters, but the bullpen and closer are very good. They’re really loaded. You’ve got to beat them before you get to the sixth inning. I think they’re 34-0 after six innings.

“I’m not at all surprised they made it through (to super regionals). Two years ago they should have hosted (but couldn’t because of a Hammons Field conflict with Double-A Springfield), but it doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	Avg.	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Drew Millas	S	Fr.	.220	.280	.280	1	29	13	40	3
1B	Justin Paulsen	L	Sr.	.329	.415	.489	7	49	34	33	1
2B	John Privitera	L	Fr.	.260	.396	.274	0	8	16	21	2
3B	Jake Burger	R	Jr.	.333	.448	.662	22	65	42	36	3
SS	Jeremy Eierman	R	So.	.312	.430	.671	22	67	39	57	15
OF	Alex Jefferson	R	Sr.	.234	.364	.327	3	23	36	50	8
OF	Jack Duffy	L	Fr.	.230	.352	.296	0	17	25	38	7
OF	Hunter Steinmetz	L	So.	.301	.417	.419	6	39	45	56	10
DH	Blake Graham	L	Sr.	.325	.439	.571	9	34	27	45	0
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Doug Still	L	Jr.	8	2	0	2.66	98	24	85	.245
SP	Jordan Knutson	L	Sr.	8	3	1	4.50	92	21	89	.257
SP	Dylan Coleman	R	So.	8	3	0	4.99	92	45	96	.236
RP	Bryan Young	R	Sr.	1	1	8	1.53	29.1	17	47	.118