TCU Horned Frogs vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders: Game Preview and Game Thread

Welcome to the College World Series Red Raiders!

Game and Series Information

The College World Series
Location: Ameritrade Park | Omaha, Nebraska
Date: Saturday, June 14th through Wednesday, June 25th
Official Site Notes
Radio: Affiliates

Bracket One
Texas Longhorns (43-19)
UC Irvine Anteaters (40-23)
Vanderbilt Commodores (46-19)
Louisville Cardinals (50-15)

Bracket Two
TCU Horned Frogs (47-16)
Texas Tech Red Raiders (45-19)
Virginia Cavaliers (49-14)
Ole Miss Rebels (46-19)

Texas Tech vs. TCU

Game 1: Sunday, June 15th
First Pitch: 2:00 pm
Television: ESPN2
Texas Tech Starting Pitcher: LHP Chris Sadberry (5-3, 3.17)
TCU Starting Pitcher: RHP Preston Morrison (9-4, 1.32)

TEXAS TECH STARTERS:
OUTFIELD:
LF: Tyler Neslony
CF: Devon Conley 
RF: Stephen Smith
INFIELD:
3B: Ryan Long
SS: Tim Proudfoot
2B: Bryant Burleson
1B: Eric Gutierrez
C: Hunter Redman
DH: Adam Kirsch

TCU PROBABLE STARTERS:
OUTFIELD:
LF: Boomer White
CF: Cody Jones
RF: Dylan Fitzgerald
INFIELD:
3B: Derek Odell
SS: Keaton Jones
2B: Garrett Crain
1B: Kevon Cron
C: Kyle Bacak
DH: Jerrick Suiter

Texas Tech faced Preston Morrison early in the year, giving him his 3rd loss of the year (his record after the game was 2-3) and Morrison only pitched 2 innings, giving up 6 hits, 4 runs, all earned, walking 2 and striking out none. Overall, it was a rough outing for TCU that game.

On the year, Texas Tech and TCU split their series. Texas Tech won two of three from TCU at Ft. Worth. TCU won their only game 9-0, while Texas Tech won 12-2 and 10-2. The two teams played again in Abilene and Texas Tech lost that game, 4-0. Sadberry pitched relatively well against TCU earlier in the year, going 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 1 earned run, walking 1 and striking out 1. Corey Taylor was excellent in relief, going 3 innings, giving up just 2 hits and no runs.

Texas Tech lead the Big 12 in slugging percentage, at .409, while finishing up 2nd in OBP at .378. TCU wasn't bad, just didn't produce as many runs, checking in at .358 slugging and .374 OBP. TCU has the advantage in pitching, with a team eRA of 2.19 and opponent batting average of .215. Texas Tech wasn't a slouch, finishing with an ERA of 3.17 and opponent batting average of .249.

And one advantage that Texas Tech has over TCU is that the Red Raiders have the National Coach of the Year in Tim Tadlock on their side and he knows he didn't do this alone:

"I've got really good people around me," said Tadlock. "I mean Coach Hayward, Coach Gardner, Coach Thomas, our operations guys and our whole administration. We've got a really good group of people. I'm just a small part of the deal and I am really thankful to be here."

This is one of those times where there appears to be so many things to read that it's tough to link to all of them, but here goes:

* A Family Affair: Redmans Ready for College World Series :: Texas Tech Today
* College World Series preview: Virginia is team to beat in Omaha - More Sports - Lindsay Schnell - SI.com
* TEXASTECH.COM Red Raiders at the CWS: Media Day - Texas Tech University Official Athletic Site
* TCU, Texas, Texas Tech Ready For CWS - Big 12 Conference - Official Athletic Site
* Cowlishaw: Big 12 crashing of College World Series brings together unlikeliest of trios | Dallas Morning News
* Lone Star trio gives CWS decidedly Texas flavor | Dallas-Fort Worth Sports News - Sports News...
* College World Series notes: TCU’s Morrison to face Texas Tech’s Sadberry in opener...

This is just from Friday during the day and Saturday morning.  This is from Sunday morning:

* Frogs, Raiders share a Texas-sized respect - Omaha.com: CWS
* Red Raiders look to continue breakthrough performance at CWS: 'It might be a little bit of destiny' | Dallas Morning News
* Tech LHP survives childhood cancer to reach baseball dreams | Red Raiders
* 3 Things We're Talking About | Red Raiders
* Red Raiders face familiar foe at College World Series | Red Raiders
* TEXASTECH.COM College World Series - Day 2 Coverage - Texas Tech University Official Athletic Site