TCU notebook: Indoor tennis wins national title, baseball has impressive start
TCU won the ITA National Indoor Team Men’s Tennis championship on Monday, beating Texas 4-0 at the XS Tennis Village in Chicago on Monday.
It’s the second straight national title for coach David Roditi‘s program.
In singles matches, Jack Pinnington defeated Micha Braswell 6-4, 6-0, and Sander Jong topped Siem Woldeab, 6-2, 6-3.
In doubles play, TCU’s Jake Fearnley and Luc Fomba teamed to beat Cleeve Harper and Eliot Spizzirri 7-5, then Pinnington and Sander Jong beat Woldeab and Pierre-Yves Bailey, 6-4.
“Incredible performance from our boys,” said. “One through six in singles, one through three in doubles, the guys on the bench – everybody contributed. As coaches, we couldn’t be prouder of the way they showed up today. The seniors, the juniors, the sophomores, the freshman – unbelievable day.”
TCU became the seventh program in the 50-year existence of the tournament to win back-to-back championships. The Horned Frogs are the first repeat winner since Virginia notched consecutive titles in 2010 and 2011.
The 4-0 blanking of the Longhorns marked just the sixth shutout in Indoor Nationals Championship history. Monday’s clean clinch was the apex of a Frog-fueled rampage over the first five weeks of the 2023 campaign. TCU concluded the indoor season 12-0 – its first-ever undefeated mark in indoor play.
The Horned Frogs are now the only Division I program nationwide in possession of an unblemished record. The triumph over the Horned Frogs also extended TCU’s program record and nation-leading indoor winning streak to 24.
Of the victories, 16 have come at the expense of ranked opponents. Texas, which entered the 16-team tournament as the No. 6 seed, represented the seventh straight ITA top-15 foe the third-ranked Horned Frogs have downed in the last two-and-a-half weeks.
Baseball
Big 12 preseason favorite TCU had the best opening weekend in college baseball, knocking off two top-10 opponents in a multi-team event at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
There’s no relief in sight for a Horned Frogs team playing one of the most ambitious nonconference schedules in the country.
Florida State, among the game’s biggest brands and coming off a three-game sweep of James Madison under first-year coach Link Jarrett, visits Fort Worth this weekend. Next it’s Dallas Baptist, Michigan and nationally ranked Louisville in a multi-team event in Houston. Then 2022 NCAA Tournament qualifier San Diego visits for three games.
“Every once in a while you kind of look back and go, ‘OK, where is the little take-a-breath weekend?” TCU coach Kirk Saarloos said Monday. “It’s good. You’ll find out a lot about yourself... Sometimes you can play a lot of quote-unquote cupcakes and feel great about yourself and then get punched in the face when you play your conference.”
TCU opened with wins of 11-4 over Vanderbilt and 18-6 over Arkansas, and the Horned Frogs start this week ranked as high as No. 8 in the polls. All but one run against Vandy were scored with two outs, and the Horned Frogs collected 19 hits against Arkansas.
Another promising sign was the work of freshman relievers Kole Klecker, Ben Abeldt and Justin Hackett against Arkansas. They combined for 10 strikeouts and allowed four hits and two runs in 7 1/3 innings.
The down side of the weekend was a 9-8, 10-inning loss to Missouri. The Horned Frogs committed five errors, their most in 142 games.
“We kind of gave one away yesterday,” Saarloos said, “but overall it was a solid weekend. We learned a lot, especially in the loss. The margin for error in college baseball is super thin, and now they understand why we run practice the way we do. Those little things are important to win a game.”
Rifle team
The TCU rifle team earned its 17th consecutive trip to the NCAA Rifle Championships after a record-setting 2022-23 regular season campaign. The Horned Frogs will look to defend their back-to-back air rifle titles against the field of eight March 10-11 at the James A. Rhodes Arena in Akron, Ohio.
TCU has taken home the team national title on three occasions, winning in 2010, 2012 and 2019.
TCU has been one of the most dominant teams in the NCAA this season. The Frogs boast the top team score among the eight tournament qualifiers. TCU has fired four of the top nine aggregate scores in the country this season, including an NCAA record performance in the season-opener at Navy in which they shot a 4,758.
On the season, TCU leads the nation in aggregate average (4,741.77) and air rifle average (2,385.54). TCU’s smallbore average (2,356.23) ranks second nationally.
Individually, Julie Johannessen (1,190.08) and Stephanie Grundsoee (1,188.78) are second and third, respectively, in season aggregate average. Katie Zaun (1,184.0) sits seventh nationally, while Abigail Gordon (1,182.73) is just outside the top 10 in 11th.
In air rifle, the TCU lineup boasts three of the top six shooters and five of the top 11. Johannessen is the only shooter in the NCAA this season to fire two perfect scores. Kristen Hemphill has also accomplished the feat this season.
Star-Telegram sports editor Dave Ammenheuser combined TCU press releases, Associated Press story and other sources for this report.
