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June 2, 2005

Waco, Texas - For the second straight season, the Frogs will take part in postseason play as they open up play in the NCAA Waco Regional Friday afternoon. The Frogs are the two seed in the Waco Regional and will face the third seed, Stanford in the first round of the double elimination tournament. Game time is slated for a 2:00 p.m. start at Baylor Ballpark on the Baylor campus. Lance Broadway will take the mound and face Stanford's Jeff Gilmore.

About the Tournament
The Frogs are making back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Regionals for the first time in school history. TCU enters the tournament on a three game win streak. They worked their way through the winners bracket at the Conference USA Tournament presented by POWERade to earn a share of the Conference USA Tournament Championship after the championship game against Tulane was rained out. They are the most offensive-minded club in the pitching-heavy Waco Regional. TCU will face perennial powerhouse, Stanford, in the first round of play, which opens Friday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark in Waco, Texas. The Frogs will be the Regional two-seed and Stanford is the three seed. On the other side of the bracket is the Nation's No. 4 seed and the regionals No. 1 seed Baylor. They will face the fourth-seed UT-San Antonio.

About The Frogs
The Frogs are on a roll and playing their best baseball at the right time. They went 3-0 in the Conference USA Tournament to earn a share of the tournament title, playing well in all three facets of the game. The defense sparkled in the first two games, posting its first back-to-back errorless contests of the year. The offense was on fire as it pounded out 35 hits in the three games and outscored their opponents 25-9. The pitching remained a strong point as all three starters went at least five innings to earn wins in each game. Keith Conlon and Shelby Ford were the offensive stars as they both hit .500 in the tournament. Ford scored seven runs, while Conlon drove in five runs with three extra base hits. Spencer Jackson was a spark off the bench as he was two-for-two in the tourney with his first career home run, a pinch-hit homer that gave the Frogs a much needed insurance run en route to eliminating Southern Miss from the tournament. On the mound, freshman, Sam Demel came up huge with his first career complete-game in the tournament opener. He allowed just two runs on three hits. Lance Broadway was dominant as usual, holding the Southern Miss offense scoreless for his 14th win of the season. Tim McGough also got back on track, earning his first win since April 23. Out of the bullpen, the Frogs got strong performances from Chase Perry and Shawn Ferguson.

About The Game One Starters
Friday night, the Frogs will put their fate in the hands of their ace, Lance Broadway. Broadway will be given the task to keep the Frogs on the winning side of the Waco Regional. He will face a daunting task as he will square off against perennial powerhouse, Stanford. The Cardinal are old hands at Regional play and are a solid club once again this season. The Cardinal named first-team all-Pac-10 pitcher, Jeff Gilmore, as the starter for the opening game. Gilmore is 10-2 this season in 16 starts. He has a 3.56 ERA and three of the Cardinal's five complete games. He has pitched 111.1 innings this season and struck out 76.

TCU vs. NCAA Tournament Base Knocks
• TCU earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2004 for the first time in 10 years.
• This is the first time the Frogs have been in the tournament in back-to-back years.
• TCU went 1-2 in the Austin Regional a year ago, topping Youngstown State and falling twice to Oral Roberts.
• TCU was in a regional for the first time in 1956.
• TCU owns an all-time record of 2-6 in the playoffs.
• The Frogs first NCAA Tournament victory came against Memphis in the Midwest Regional on May 27, 1994 in Stillwater, Okla.

The Series Match-Ups
Baylor: The Bears are the top seed in the Waco Regional and will have the home field advantage. They are the fourth national seed among the eight given out. The Bears were co-champions of the Big 12 regular season and finished second in the Big 12 tournament. The Bears sport an overall record of 39-21 and finished 19-8 in the Big 12. They rely heavily on a dominating pitching staff. As a team, they are hitting just .269, the lowest of any team in the Waco Regional. Josh Ford is the leading hitter at .324, while Kyle Reynolds is the power guy with eight home runs. The pitching staff is anchored by the big three in Mark McCormick (7-3, 3.08), Trey Taylor (6-5, 3.48) and Cory VanAllen (7-4, 4.03). They have a team ERA of 3.33 and hold opponents to a .232 batting average.

Stanford: The Cardinal finished seventh in a highly-competitive Pac-10 conference. At 32-23 overall, the Cardinal bring a wealth of playoff experience to the Regional. This will be their 26th NCAA Regional berth. They've made 15 trips to the College World Series and won it twice in 1987 and 1988. The Cardinal have similar numbers to the Bears, relying heavily on a dominating pitching staff to win games. As a team, they are hitting .288, led by Jed Lowrie at .324. He has 12 long balls and driven in 62 runs. Jeff Gilmore is the ace of the staff with a 10-2 record to go along with a 3.56 ERA. Matt Manship is the go-to guy in the bullpen with a 0.96 ERA in 20 appearances. They get the job done defensively as well with a .978 fielding percentage, committing just 47 errors all season.

UT-San Antonio: The Roadrunners are on a roll with a four-game winning streak. They earned the Southland Conference's automatic bid after sweeping their way through the Southland Conference tournament. This is their first trip to the NCAA Regionals since 1994. They are hitting .286 as a team, led by Ryan Crew at .368. Sean Danielson is the main threat on the bases with 20 stolen bases. Aaron Rodriguez is the ace of the staff with a 3.97 ERA to go along with an 8-5 record. Jason Vecchio is the staff saves leader with seven. The defense has been an Achilles heel for the Roadrunners as they have committed 104 errors on the season.

Broadway Named 2nd Team All-American By Sports Weekly
In the first all-American lists to come out this season, right-handed pitcher Lance Broadway was named second-team all-American by Sports Weekly. Broadway is one of the nation's top pitchers this season, compiling a nation-best 14-1 record. He has broken two long-standing single season records at TCU this year, breaking the old mark of 11 wins in a season. He also set a new record for strikeouts in a season, breaking the old mark of 120 set in 1988. He currently has 144 punch outs.

Broadway Named C-USA Pitcher Of The Year; Four Others Earn Honors
Lance Broadway was named C-USA Pitcher of the Year as well as being a first-team all-conference player. He was 9-0 in conference play with a 1.66 ERA and 97 strikeouts. Also earning first-team honors was Shelby Ford. Ford leads the team with a .377 batting average and leads the conference with a .495 on-base percentage. Chad Huffman earned second-team all-conference honors for the second straight year. Matt McGuirk and Andrew Walker earned a spot on the all-freshman team.

Fresh Contributions
For the second straight season, the Frogs rely on another talented crop of freshman. Added to the freshman from last season, the young lineup has done its job, helping the team to one of its best records in years. Four freshmen have seen significant playing time in the field, while four have seen time on the mound as well. At the plate, the freshmen are hitting .309 (170-550) with 112 runs scored and 109 runs driven in. Fifty-eight of their base hits have gone for extra bases, including 20 long balls. Andrew Walker is the team leader with 11. They've demonstrated their patience, drawing 71 walks. On the mound, they account for seven wins, one save and 125 strikeouts.

Untouchable
Since a bad outing against Charlotte on April 23, Lance Broadway has been nearly untouchable. He has surrendered just three runs and only two earned runs spanning five appearances. He's earned a share of two shutouts and picked up the Frogs first complete-game shutout of the season. Against Houston, the Cougars picked up a run in the first inning, since that time, Broadway has surrendered just one earned run, spanning 39 innings. He has a scoreless streak of 21 innings without allowing any runs to cross the plate. On the season, he has a 1.66 ERA to go along with a 14-1 record. He has 144 strikeouts in just 108 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting .191 off of the righty. As a starter he is 13-0 with a 1.47 ERA and 138 strikeouts.

And Then There Were Two
Since the NCAA began posting nationals statistics, Lance Broadway has been one of the five pitchers to lead the nation in wins. Over the past five weeks, the list has shrunk from five to two. With 14 wins this season, Broadway finds himself in some impressive company. Only one other pitcher in the nation has recorded 14 wins this season. Broadway is at the top with a 14-1 record, while, Tennessee's Luke Hochevar sits at 14-2 this season.

Unsung Hero
Sam Demel continued his tear on the mound, throwing the first complete game of his short career in the opening round of the Conference USA Tournament against Louisville. Demel threw 147 pitches, surrendering just two runs on three hits. Both runs scored without the benefit of a hit as the Cardinals played small ball to pick up the two runs in the third inning. Following the two walks, Demel retired 21 of the final 24 batters he faced, including stretches of eight and 10 in a row. He struck out nine in the outing, earning himself a spot on the All-Tournament team. On the season, he is 5-4 with a 4.09 ERA. He has 97 strikeouts in 92.1 innings pitched.

Powering His Way Through
Keith Conlon was a key cog in the Frogs 3-0 weekend at the Conference Tournament. In three games, the Frogs center fielder hit .500 (6-for-12) with five runs driven in. He broke open a 3-0 game against Southern Miss on Thursday night with a three run home run to dead center and drove in a run in each of the other two games. The hit in Wednesday's 4-2 win over Louisville snapped an 0-for-14 slump that spanned four games for Conlon. For his efforts, Conlon was named to the All-Tournament team.

In A Pinch
Needing some more offensive punch in Saturday's contest against Southern Miss, Coach Schlossnagle turned to the bench and Spencer Jackson to lead off the eighth inning. Jackson didn't disappoint as he smashed his first career home run over the left center wall to give the Frogs a 10-6 lead over the Golden Eagles. He followed that at-bat with another base knock in the ninth inning to put the game out of reach. His single through the left side plated two runs, giving him a career-high three RBI on the day.

Not Afraid Of The Home Team
Under head coach, Jim Schlossnagle, the Frogs have been dominant in post season play against the tournament host teams. After dropping the C-USA Tournament opener in Houston to the home team in 2004, the Horned Frogs swept a doubleheader from the Cougars to eliminate them on the way to the tournament crown. This season, the Frogs were once again matched with the home team in the Conference USA Tournament. The Frogs made short work of the Southern Miss Golden Eagles, handing them both losses to eliminate them from the tournament on their home field. With the task of possibly upending Baylor on their home field this weekend, the Frogs know how to get the job done.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Shelby Ford is already making history in his short time with the Horned Frogs, tying the career mark for hit-by-pitch set by Levi Groomer from 1999-2004. As a freshman, Ford was hit 18 times and has been hit 16 times this season. His next hit-by-pitch will set the all time mark at 35.

Another Record Falls
For the second straight year, the TCU Horned Frogs broke the single season record for wins. By posting their 40th win on Saturday, the 2005 Frogs became the first squad ever in TCU history to have a 40-win season. They surpassed the old mark of 39 set back in 2004 in Coach Schlossnagle's first season at TCU.