September 21, 2007

TCU baseball announces 2008 schedule

By Pegasus News wire

Head coach Jim Schlossnagle has announced the Horned Frogs' 2008 schedule. The 56-game regular-season slate includes 32 games at Lupton Stadium and Williams-Reilly Field, plus the 2008 Mountain West Conference Postseason Tournament. In all, the Frogs will play 15 games against opponents that appeared in the postseason a year ago, including seven games against teams that advanced to a Super Regional as well three games against College World Series participant Cal State Fullerton to open the season.

"This is the most ambitious non-conference schedule that I have ever been a part of in 18 years of coaching college baseball," remarked Schlossnagle. "It will not only be a great test for this year's team, but is also a great statement about the broad national appeal of TCU and should be very exciting and attractive to our fans. When you add in the new NCAA mandated, condensed schedule with the quality of teams that we are playing, this will certainly be one of the more challenging schedules in the country."

TCU will start the season off with a bang as it welcomes 2007 College World Series participant Cal State Fullerton to Lupton Stadium. The three-game series is slated to begin Friday, Feb. 22. The Frogs will follow with a Tuesday night affair against Dallas Baptist before hitting the road for the MetroDome Tournament in Minneapolis, Minn., Feb. 29-March 2. TCU will square off against Minnesota, NCAA participant Pepperdine and former Conference USA foe, Tulane in one of the nation's most prominent tournaments.

The Frogs will return to Lupton Stadium to open up a seven-game homestand that begins with a visit from UT-Arlington on Tuesday, March 4 followed by a Wednesday night game against Texas State.

Two consecutive weekend series against Super Regional teams, Ole Miss and Wichita State await the Frogs beginning Friday, March 7. TCU hosts Ole Miss March 7-9 before traveling to Wichita, Kan for a three-game series against the Shockers March 14-16. In between, the Frogs will host Prairie View A&M in a midweek series Tuesday and Wednesday, March 11-12.

Following a Tuesday, March 18 meeting against McNeese State at Lupton, the Frogs will begin defense of their Mountain West Conference title when they host New Mexico March 20-22.

March 24, TCU and Dallas Baptist will square off for the second time at the Dr Pepper/7-Up Ballpark in Frisco, home of the Texas Rangers Double A affiliate Frisco Roughriders. They will return home for a doubleheader against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Tuesday March 25.

TCU hits the road the following weekend for its second week of MWC action when it heads to Las Vegas,?Nev. for a three-game series against UNLV March 28-30.

Tuesday April 1 begins a stretch of five straight Tuesdays against Big XII competition when the Frogs host Baylor. An April 8 meeting in Waco will conclude the Frogs' series with the Bears.

In between, the Frogs will make a return trip to San Marcos on Wednesday April 2 to complete the home-home series with Texas State before returning home to play host to Air Force in MWC?action April 4-6.

Another three-game series with UNLV awaits the Frogs at Lupton Stadium on April 11-13 followed by a Tuesday April 15 meeting with Oklahoma.

April 17 marks the beginning of a season-long eight game road trip that commences with a three-game series at BYU. The Frogs will wrap up their series with Dallas Baptist on April 21 in Dallas followed by a trip to Norman,?Okla. for a match-up with the Sooners. From there, the Frogs will head to San Diego State for a three-game series with the Aztecs beginning April 25.

The Frogs return home for an April 29 contest against Super Regional participant Texas A&M, who will visit Fort Worth for the first time since the 1995 season. Wednesday April 30, TCU heads across town to wrap up its season series against UT-Arlington.

The Utah Utes head to Fort Worth on May 2 for a three-game Mountain West Conference series, opening up a six-game homestand. After a week-off, the Frogs will host UT-Pan American in its final regular season home contests. The three-game series is slated to begin Saturday, May 10.

A trip to Albuquerque, N.M. to face off with New Mexico concludes the regular season May 15-17.

On May 20, the Mountain West Conference descends on Fort Worth as TCU will be the host site for the 2008 MWC Postseason Tournament.

First pitch for the 2008 season begins at 6:30 p.m. against Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 22.