Game 2: Winkler does it all

Kyle Winkler has turned in some damn impressive performances in his time at TCU, but his first outing of 2011 might've been his best yet. His seven innings of one-hit, no earned run work powered the Frogs to a 7-1 Game 2 win over Kansas Saturday.

But it wasn't just the 8 K's that Wink registered in 7 innings. In the top of the 5th inning, sophomore catcher Josh Elander made a valiant attempt at catching a foul ball, completely laying out but not quite coming up with the catch. While he was able to finish the inning, Schlossnagle pulled him and put DH Jimmie Pharr in at catcher, which meant that the Frogs had given up the luxury of the designated hitter for the day. In the bottom of the inning, Schloss had a choice- bat his pitcher (who was DEALING at the time) or pull him for a pinch hitter. He elected to bat Winkler, and it paid off- he laid down a perfect bunt on the first pitch he saw, scoring Aaron Schultz from third. The crowd of over 4,400 didn't ignore the offensive contribution of a pitcher, either, as Wink received a standing ovation for his efforts.

From there, it was all pretty simple. Winkler shut down the Frogs for two more innings, and then Erik Miller pitched two perfect innings of relief to hold the Jayhawks to just one hit all afternoon.

Game 1= Record Crowd, Easy W

A school record 6,099 fans watched TCU's season-opening 8-2 win over Kansas last night, a game that was a game that decided pretty quickly when the Frogs scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning.

The incessantly talkative Jayhawk fans sitting right behind me had a lot of nice things to say about TCU and especially Lupton Stadium...at the beginning of the game. But as the Frogs made it a laugher, the KU folks' collective mood changed. Among the things overheard after that:

"It's kind of sad how schools like this put too much emphasis on athletics at the expense of academics"

If you've ever talked basketball with a KU fan, you'll realize how incredibly ironic this is. And you've always gotta love academic smack- TCU's no Harvard, but neither is KU. I know some smart people that went there, but without naming any names I know plenty of examples of the complete opposite.

"This is a lot of fans for the beginning of the game. But I wonder how many of these people even know how long a baseball game lasts"

Haha, right- us yokels from the DFW Metroplex are still so confused by the novelty of this new & confusing sport. Please, enlighten us before you return to uber-cosmopolitan Kansas, oh so worldly Jayhawk fans.

"TCU joining the Big East makes no sense- they must be scared to join the Big 12"

Sigh. I guess jean shorts cloud the mind. It absolutely floors me how many people out there have the same opinion as these folks.

"This is just too warm for February. I feel bad for people that don't really get to experience all four seasons"

I actually laughed out loud at this one. But to my credit, I kept from verbally putting these folks in their place. That might've been a different story if I weren't sitting with my girlfriend. Or if they were Baylor fans.