Preview: Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships - TCU Athletics (2024)

Baseball 5/20/2024 2:54:00 PM

TCU opens play Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. against West Virginia

FORT WORTH -TCU begins defense of its 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship title on Tuesday afternoon against West Virginia. First pitch against the Mountaineers is slated for 12:30 p.m. The entire tournament will be televised on the ESPN platforms.

INSIDE THE TOURNAMENT
TCU (31-19, 14-16) vs. West Virginia (33-20, 19-11)
Tuesday, May 22 • 12:30 p.m.
TV:Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio:88.7 KTCU FM/Varsity App
Starter: RHP Caedmon Parker

TCU NOTABLES
• TCU dropped its final home series of the regular season to West Virginia and enters the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships as the No. 9 seed.
• Payton Tolle headlines a group of seven Frogs to earn all-conference accolades. He is the first in Big 12 history to earn Big 12 Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year accolades.
• TCU ranks 12th in the Big 12 in average (.270), third in ERA (4.63) and first in fielding percentage (.977).
• Sam Myers enters the tournament carrying a 13-game hitting streak, while Jack Arthur boasts an 11-game streak.
• Anthony Silva led the Frogs against West Virginia with a .455 (5-for-11) average to go along with three RBIs.
• Tolle is tied for eighth in the nation with 116 strikeouts
• Kurtis Byrne and Karson Bowen have reached safely in seven straight games.

INSIDE THE TOURNAMENT
• TCU's side of the bracket features No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 West Virginia, No. 6 Kansas State and No. 7 Kansas.
• TCU played Texas and Kansas on the road, Kansas State and Oklahoma made their way to Lupton, posting a 4-8 record in those games.
• TCU took a 2-1 series win over Kansas State, dropped 2-1 series decisions to Kansas, Texas and West Virginia and was swept by Oklahoma.
• The other side features No. 2 Oklahoma St., No. 3 Texas, No. 5 Cincinnati, No. 8 UCF and No. 10 Texas Tech.
• TCU was a combined 4-8 against the teams that comprise the other bracket.
• Three of the four series were played on the road.
• TCU took a 2-1 series win over Texas Tech, dropped 2-1 series decisions at Oklahoma State, at Texas and was swept at Cincinnati. TCU did not face UCF.

CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT NOTABLES
• TCU owns two conference titles in Conference USA, four in the Mountain West and four in the Big 12.
• TCU has won 10 titles in the last 18 years of the conference tournament, including the 2014, 2016, 2021 and 2023 Big 12 championships.
• TCU has played in a tournament championship game 10 times and is 9-1 in those contests. One championship game (2005 vs. Tulane) was rained out.
• TCU is 29-13 in conference tournaments with Kirk Saarloos on staff and 58-35 all-time dating back to its first tournament appearance in 1991 as members of the SWC.
• TCU is 27-13 in the Big 12 Tournament.
• TCU has had 75 players honored on the all-tournament squads in program history.
• TCU has had 30 all-tournament selections and four tournament MVPs in the Big 12.
• TCU has failed to win a conference tournament game just four times (1994, 1998, 2003 and 2015) in program history.
• The Frogs have won tournament titles at Houston, at Southern Miss, at UNLV twice, at TCU, at San Diego State, in Oklahoma City twice and at Globe Life Field.
• TCU is 15-11 in conference tournament openers, including 8-3 in Big 12 Tournament openers.
• TCU is 4-1 against WVU, 3-1 against Kansas, 2-3 against Texas, 2-0 against Oklahoma and 4-1 against Kansas State in the Big 12 Championships.

GLOBE LIFE NOTABLES
• TCU has played at least one regular season game in Globe Life since it opened.
• The Horned Frogs have played 20 games in Globe Life over the last four seasons.
• TCU is 15-5 all-time at Globe Life Field.