FORT WORTH — TCU has waited for Nick Lodolo to reach another level.
As the 41st pick in the Major League Baseball Draft in 2016, he opted for college and came to TCU with a high ceiling. With a career 12-7 record entering his junior season with the Horned Frogs, he’s approached expectations.
But not that next level. Not yet — until Friday night, maybe.
The left-hander struck out 10 with no walks in seven innings against Grand Canyon at Lupton Stadium. Two solo home runs tagged him with the loss as TCU dropped the opener of the three-game series, 4-1.
But the wait may be over for the Frogs and their budding ace.
“Nick Lodolo turned the corner tonight as an elite, elite Division I pitcher,” Frogs coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “He’s been working for two and a half years on a breaking ball that could help him become that kind of guy, and he found it this week, and he put it to use tonight.”
This week?
Yeah, Wednesday.
“I literally learned it on Wednesday,” Lodolo said. “It’s a completely different grip. It’s not a curveball, it’s a slider. … It’s a lot sharper. The biggest thing for me was getting something to pitch off my fastball.”
Last week, in five innings against Cal State Fullerton, Lodolo struck out only two using a breaking ball that was “too big” and couldn’t command, catcher Zach Humphreys said. The new pitch made a difference not only in offerings but in body language and competitiveness from the junior from LaVerne, Calif.
“He was shaking off pitches because he wanted to throw what he wanted to throw, because he knew he was going to execute that pitch,” Humphreys said. “I haven’t seen that from him in a while. You know he’s feeling himself, when he’s in the zone, when he’s doing stuff like that. Everything he shook to, he had control of and executed the pitch just like he wanted to do. He had himself a good night.”
Only problem? Two home runs that the right side of the stadium couldn’t hold. Leadoff hitter Quin Cotton poked an 0-2 pitch off the plate hard enough that it went over the numbers in the right field corner to forge a 1-1 tie in the third inning. In the fifth, third baseman Tyler Wyatt struck a well-hit homer to right for a 2-1 lead.
Outside of that, two harmless singles. The Lopes added a couple of tack-on runs against Charles King in the eighth.
“I hate to lose the ballgame, no doubt about it, and there’s a lot of things we could have done better — but if you told me that, for the most part, every Friday night for the rest of the year we’re going to get that, or 80 to 90 percent of that, I’ll take my chances,” Schlossnagle said of Lodolo’s performance.
Last Friday night in the season opener, TCU went scoreless against Fullerton. This Friday night, the Frogs got only a run on Jake Guenther’s first homer, a blast to deep left that hit the trees beyond the berm seating.
The Frogs stranded seven, went 1-for-11 with runners on base and 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position as Grand Canyon starter Kade Mechals and three relievers put pitches right where they wanted them.
“They just did a really nice job,” Schlossnagle said. “We knew the starter was good. He had his change-up going. It was a really tough pitch. Any time we had a chance to drive somebody in, we didn’t get the big hit. Kind of like last Friday night.”
The Frogs and Lopes return to action Saturday at 3 p.m.
