The idea of missing the NCAA playoffs a second straight year kept Jim Schlossnagle up at night.
It had never happened under his watch at TCU.
“Couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep,” the Horned Frogs coach said.
Fortunately for his rest pattern and nutrition, it still hasn’t happened. The Frogs wound up in the NCAA postseason for a 14th time in the coach’s 16 seasons at TCU, grabbing the last spot in the 64-team field when it was announced on Memorial Day.
Like a movie hero sliding in under a slowly closing gate, the Frogs had won three games in the Big 12 tournament in the nick of time to bump their RPI just enough, looking healthy and crisp doing it. So much so that the selection committee chairman said as much.
“One of the most deserving,” Ray Tanner said.
The Frogs backed up the assertion by winning two games at the Fayetteville Regional, shellacking Cal and Central Connecticut State on the way to reaching the finals before falling to host and national seed Arkansas in a second game on its home field.
If not for a single error, would Arkansas have even scored on the Frogs in the first game? Who knows? The Frogs still earned their chance, reaching a regional final for the sixth time in eight seasons.
The competitive showing was evidence the Frogs haven’t lost their touch, despite sitting out last year.
“TCU’s one of the better teams we’ve played this year,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn offered graciously.
Four consecutive College World Series appearances set a high bar in Fort Worth. Not returning hurts. But not as bad as not having a chance at all.
A year ago, that was TCU’s world.
“It’s hard to play at TCU,” Schlossnagle said. “What I mean by that is, the players know the history. They know about the four College World Series in a row. They know about the five in eight years. So the pressure that goes along with that, the expectation level that goes along with that, it’s immense.”
Since the four-year Omaha run, TCU won 67 games in two years. That’s not exactly terrible.
But in the four Omaha years, TCU averaged almost 50 wins a year. That’s elite. That’s what the Frogs and fans got used to.
In 2018, the Frogs just couldn’t match the talent level of the previous four teams. The draft zapped the top of their 2017 recruiting class.
This year, preseason injuries put three pitchers on the shelf. The opening-day DH missed 46 games. Two shortstops, an outfielder, a starting pitcher and their slugging first baseman also missed time.
Put all the sidelined players together, and the missed time went north of 300 games.
The talent level rose in 2019, but that’s a lot to make up.
That the Frogs pulled themselves up out of the hole and onto the postseason stage spoke volumes.
“Being selected is a lot of responsibility,” outfielder Josh Watson said the day the Frogs learned they were in the field. “We’ve got something to prove now. It’s kind of been our thing all year. We got to prove to everyone we deserve to be here.”
The Frogs did. They can sleep easy.
