TCU posted a 5.88 earned-run average in three games at Long Beach State yet left with a series win.
Short-term, that’s fine.
Long-term, it’s no way to make a living.
“We have pretty high pitching standards at TCU, and they aren’t being met right now as a staff,” coach Jim Schlossnagle said.
The Frogs take a 4.13 team ERA into Tuesday’s game at San Diego. It’s a figure inflated by a 14-3 loss on Saturday against LBSU and a 12-2 loss on March 3 against Rice and ranks 109th in the country.
“We’re a work in progress like everybody else,” Schlossnagle said “There’s no question we’re underachieving on the mound. I’d like for us to be better, and they’d like to be better, but we just have to keep improving.”
Nick Lodolo proved sharp again Friday night to win the series opener with seven strong innings, lowering his ERA to 1.73, but neither Jake Eissler nor Brandon Williamson made it out of the third inning in their starts against a team that entered the series just 1-10.
Eissler, freshly inserted into the rotation, took Saturday’s loss after going only 2 1/3 innings. Sharp in long relief in his first three appearances, the junior right-hander gave up seven hits and was charged with nine runs. Williamson followed Sunday with his least effective start, giving up six hits and three earned runs in two innings.
“Eissler’s obviously not a finished product as a starter,” Schlossnagle said. “He threw strikes, but his command wasn’t good. We’re not going to judge him on one start, but certainly he’s going to have to get better as we get closer to conference play. I’m hoping Williamson was an aberration because he’s certainly been a lot better against really good teams to this point.”
To rescue Eissler on Saturday, trailing 7-0 in the third inning, Schlossnagle turned to some of his least experienced pitchers. Matt Rudis allowed two inherited runners to score, plus one of his own. Spencer Arighetti got two outs in the fifth but allowed three runs, Dalton Brown and James Notary finished the game, allowing another run.
In a 4-4 game Sunday with Williamson struggling in the third, Schlossnagle had the luxury of turning to veteran Charles King. The junior put up five one-hit innings to earn the win in a 10-4 victory, and Cal Coughlin and Marcelo Perez each pitched a scoreless inning. Perez picked up a six-out save on Friday.
“Lodolo didn’t have the same command that he had last week, but he was still awesome,” Schlossnagle said. ”Cal Coughlin looked like his normal self. That was a huge sign for us. And he missed almost the entire preseason. He only threw off a game mound once before the season began, so that was a great thing to see Sunday.
“Charles King picked up those innings that Eissler would have given us out of the bullpen. Lodolo, Coughlin, King and Perez were big bright spots. And I thought Haylen Green’s adjustments that he made last Tuesday was a big step for him.”
Speaking of Tuesday, Jared Janczak gets the start against a 12-4 San Diego team. The senior skipped his turn in the rotation for the sake of extra work in his return from two surgeries a year ago. The right-hander is healthy but couldn’t put together more than a short period of effectiveness in his first two starts.
Behind him, the Frogs will play without shortstop Hunter Wolfe, who suffered a hamstring injury going for a ball up the middle on Saturday, Schlossnagle said. He’s expected to be out until the Texas series in two weeks, if then.
In the meantime, third baseman Adam Oviedo will play shortstop, where he played last season. Catcher Zach Humphreys will continue to see action at third base, with Conner Shepherd prepared to go in as a late-inning defensive replacement.
After playing nothing but left field in his first 204 games at TCU, senior Josh Watson started in right field on Saturday and Sunday in the Long Beach State series. That allowed freshman Porter Brown to play left field and free up designated hitter starts for catcher Alex Isola and outfielder Andrew Keefer, who has been limited in throwing by injury.
“We want to see Brown play the field a little bit more. We want to get Isola and Humphreys in the same game,” Schlossnagle said. “It’s a mix-and-match thing, but also gives us a chance to show our depth and give guys an opportunity to play.”
Keefer, a junior from Allen who played at Weatherford College the past two seasons, hit his second home run on Sunday.