FORT WORTH — The TCU baseball team went to California for four games last week and left eight errors behind, resulting in a 2-2 trip.
It made coach Jim Schlossnagle — what’s the word? — re-emphasize the importance of fielding your position.
On Friday night, the Horned Frogs played error-free, although Nick Lodolo (3-2) barely gave them a chance to go awry with his 13 strikeouts in a 12-2 victory against Eastern Michigan to open a three-game weekend series at Lupton Stadium.
“The fielding percentage always goes up when Lodolo pitches because he strikes everybody out,” Schlossnagle said. “He limits the chances.”
Four walks made it a little bit of a tightrope walk for the junior left-hander. But his fastball early and his breaking ball later kept him clean, and when his teammates did get a chance to make a play, they did. Shortstop Adam Oviedo handled a tough liner that nearly ate him up, and right fielder Andrew Keefer chased down a tailing drive in right field during a hitless six innings.
EMU second baseman Jared Kauffman turned on a 1-1 pitch to double over third base with one out in the seventh for his team’s first hit.
“I made a good pitch. He put a good swing on it,” Lodolo said. “All I was worried about was putting up a zero.”
That’s been happening a lot with the veteran pitcher from Laverne, Calif. In five starts, he hasn’t given up more than two runs. Friday night was the first time he had walked more than one. For the second time in three starts, he matched his career high with 13 strikeouts.
The last time he pitched at Lupton Stadium, on Feb. 22 against Grand Canyon, Lodolo turned the corner on becoming an “elite, elite Division I pitcher,” Schlossnagle said.
He went seven innings that night and has gone seven innings every time since.
“That outing definitely turned things around for him,” Schlossnagle said. “Tonight he was not sharp at all. But he threw his fastball in the strike zone enough to have a good night. But I think he’d tell you that was the worst command that he’s had in a while. He did a nice job of recovering when he had to. He certainly can’t do that against a better club or in our conference. But he knows that. I thought he competed. He’d throw some bad pitches but then he’d throw good ones. It’s the sign of a good pitcher. He kept his team in the game.”
The Frogs know that. Lodolo’s ERA dropped to 1.12 after five starts against Cal State Fullerton, Grand Canyon, Houston, Long Beach State and now Eastern Michigan.
“When Nick is on the mound, there’s not much action in the infield,” said second baseman Austin Henry, who drove in five runs with a groundout off the pitcher’s glove, a two-run single and a two-run home run. “The few times we did, we did execute plays. Which is good. It was a good night for him.”
It was a good night for Conner Shepherd, too. The junior third baseman entered as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning with the score 3-0 and hit his first Division I grand slam (he had one in junior college at Mount San Antonio in 2017) in the bottom of the inning for a 10-0 lead. It followed Adam Oviedo’s bases-loaded walk and Andrew Keefer’s two-run double.
Lodolo’s work again set TCU up in favorable position for the weekend. The Frogs needed only six outs from the bullpen. Cal Coughlin and Matt Rudis split them, although Coughlin wrestled with three walks.
Shepherd reiterated the confidence Lodolo and the rest of the pitchers in the rotation provide.
“It’s a good feeling for the hitters knowing if we put a couple of runs on the board for them, we’re in a good spot,” he said. “If we play good defense behind them, make the routine plays, we’re going to come up on top more than not.”
That’s already been shown.