Super Regional Preview: TCU-Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION SUPER REGIONAL

Hosted by Texas A&M (No. 4 national seed) • Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park • College Station, Texas

Follow the action on Twitter: @Aggie_Baseball | @TCU_Baseball

Texas Christian (45-15) at No. 4 Texas A&M (48-14)

Friday
9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Saturday
9 p.m. (ESPN)
Sunday
9 p.m. (ESPN2 or ESPNU)

TCU

Coach: Jim Schlossnagle
Postseason History: sixth super regional appearance (third straight). Seeking fourth trip to Omaha.
Postseason Route: No. 1 seed in Fort Worth Regional. Won in three games, beating Arizona State in the final.

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Evan Skoug	L	So.	.295	.388	.518	9	50	31	45	7
1B	Connor Wanhanen	L	So.	.243	.340	.306	0	23	19	28	9
2B	Cam Warner	R	Jr.	.307	.354	.437	5	40	18	48	9
3B	Elliott Barzilli	R	Jr.	.369	.443	.569	7	46	28	27	12
SS	Ryan Merrill	L	Jr.	.288	.345	.410	1	20	14	28	11
OF	Josh Watson	B	Fr.	.282	.408	.532	11	44	41	62	11
OF	Dane Steinhagen	R	Sr.	.314	.378	.500	7	50	21	47	11
OF	Austen Wade	L	So.	.307	.449	.391	1	25	50	35	13
DH	Luken Baker	R	Fr.	.382	.493	.555	8	54	43	34	1
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Mitchell Traver	R	Jr.	1	1	0	2.45	18	6	20	.254
SP	Jared Janczak	R	Fr.	6	3	0	2.41	67	20	65	.240
SP	Brian Howard	R	Jr.	8	2	0	3.56	86	25	78	.234
RP	Durbin Feltman	R	Fr.	3	0	7	1.88	29	10	41	.143

Scouting Report
(anonymous coach breaks down the Horned Frogs)

“They’ve got power with Skoug, Baker and Barzilli. They can really hurt you at any time. At the top, Austin Wade is a tough out. He really makes pitchers work. He’s just a tough out and is frustrating to pitch to, especially when you’ve got guys like Skoug, Baker and Barzilli behind you. They can beat you in a lot of different ways. They’ll run with pretty much anyone. They don’t give away any outs with bunts. They will bunt, but it’ll be a drag to get on base that way. They can do that. They use it more as a hitting way to get on base than a sacrifice tool. What stands out is they can beat you in a lot of different ways. There are tough outs throughout their lineup. There’s really no weak spots where you can catch your breath, even at the bottom—those are tough outs.

“Don’t think there’s one way you can handle (Baker). He’s a good enough hitter, a mature enough hitter to make adjustments. I think you have to constantly mix it up. Classic hard in, soft away. If you go down and away at the knees on the black, that’s to me the toughest spot for him. I would go after him that way, but you’ve got to set it up by being able to pitch in so he can’t just dive and make that adjustment. He’s going to barrel the ball up.

“I like their guys on the mound–they’re strike throwers that attack the zone. Janczak is a sinker-slider guy. He has enough velocity to make you respect it. He’s tough. Howard, he was tough on us. He’s definitely a guy that throws strikes. Being so tall and cutting the fastball like he does and pitching with that angle makes him a tough matchup. In the ‘pen, they’ve got (Preston) Guillory who has experience and can get a ground ball when you need it and a swing and miss when you need it with his slider. Feltman is tough. He throws really hard. I think they’ve got a lot of depth, and that makes them difficult. But maybe not as experienced as they had been in the past.

“They really believe they can win. They know they’re going to win. They believe they’re going to win. The winning culture there is carried over from the previous years. Once you get it going like that, it goes.”

Texas A&M

Coach: Rob Childress
Postseason History: seventh super regional appearance (second straight). Seeking sixth trip to Omaha.
Postseason Route: No. 1 seed in College Station Regional. Won in three games, beating Minnesota in in the final.

Pos.	Name	Bats	Yr.	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Michael Barash	R	Sr.	.328	.397	.436	4	40	18	20	1
1B	Hunter Melton	R	Sr.	.305	.379	.510	11	66	23	60	2
2B	Ryne Birk	L	Jr.	.318	.384	.494	7	44	27	33	8
3B	Boomer White	R	R-Jr.	.398	.476	.533	5	46	33	14	10
SS	Austin Homan	R	Jr.	.369	.406	.443	1	25	11	26	4
OF	Joel Davis	L	Jr.	.280	.363	.492	3	21	13	25	1
OF	J.B. Moss	R	Sr.	.325	.416	.486	5	42	32	52	16
OF	Nick Banks	L	Jr.	.289	.360	.491	9	49	22	47	7
DH	Jonathan Moroney	R	Sr.	.346	.432	.568	4	25	13	18	2
Pos.	Name	Throws	Yr.	W	L	SV	ERA	IP	BB	SO	AVG
SP	Brigham Hill	R	So.	9	1	1	1.95	92	24	97	.229
SP	Kyle Simonds	R	Sr.	10	3	0	2.73	92	23	74	.223
SP	Turner Larkins	R	So.	3	0	1	2.82	38	15	35	.213
RP	Mark Ecker	R	Jr.	4	2	8	0.41	44	4	52	.162

Scouting Report
(anonymous coach breaks down the Aggies)

“Texas A&M is my favorite team in the league. It’s the best offense we played. They’re just so strong. Collectively, they have the most strength. You feel like you can’t breathe when you play them because they have multiple threats in their lineup one through six. You just don’t feel like you can breathe against them and then, by the way, they have like eight dudes that throw 94 (mph).

“They have so much stuff. They get to their eighth guy and here comes a guy throwing 91-93, touch 94 with a good slider. There are some real benefits to having that level of competition in your club. The teams I’ve had that are deep on the mound or have a proven bullpen are teams that play with so much confidence, and that’s where A&M is. They know they’re really good, and they play that way in a good way. They play with a real calmness because if they’re chasing two or three runs, they’re like, ‘We’re fine, we can score.’ And if they’re up two or three, they know they have a good bullpen. One knock is they’re pretty righthanded. They don’t have a lot of lefthanded pitching, if you’re trying to poke a hole.

“What (White) did in the league statistically this year is unheard of. He hit like .440 in SEC games. Just really good hand-eye coordination. Just a really, really tough out, and then he’s got the donkeys hitting behind him. He sets the table for the guys behind them.

“I can’t see them losing at home. It’s a tall order going into College Station and winning two out of three. It ain’t very fun. It’s a cool experience until the game starts and then it’s a bear. It’s a real advantage.”