#14 TCU Travels to #1 UCLA for the Most Anticipated Match-up of the Weekend
The college baseball season is still a few weeks away from conference play, however, there are still plenty of intriguing match-ups to tune into this weekend. The highest ranked match-up of the weekend will see the TCU Horned Frogs travel to Los Angeles to take on the UCLA Bruins who are widely regarded as the best program in the nation at the moment.
TCU is currently ranked at #14 on the Baseball Focus top 25, but can be found much closer to the top on a number of different outlets. I decided on waiting until two weekends had passed before I initiated any significant movement towards the top of the top 25. Had it been updated following last weekend, TCU’s ranking would be a lot higher as the Frogs are coming off of two ranked wins at the Shriners College Showdown in Arlington, Texas, winning by a score of 5-4 against both #21 Vanderbilt and #6 Arkansas before falling to now ranked #21 Oklahoma in the final game of the weekend. They did lose their mid-week on Tuesday to UT Arlington on the road by a score of 11-8, but early season mid-weeks don’t hold much weight. As long as they at least look good against UCLA, their ranking is not likely to fall because of it.
UCLA had a loss of their own to a mid-major, with their’s coming on Sunday in the final game of their weekend series against UC San Diego by a score of 8-7. Aside from the loss, they handled the Tritons in the first two games of the series and also made quick work of Tulane in their mid-week on Tuesday.
As most weekend match-ups in college baseball do, the series opener on Friday night presents itself as the most intriguing game in the series. Both teams typically send their ace to the mound, but that unfortunately won’t be the case for TCU as it was announced that Tommy Lapour would be missing his Friday night start against UCLA as he was experiencing elbow soreness following his start against Vanderbilt last Friday. No diagnosis has been given to Lapour’s elbow, rather TCU is reportedly having Lapour skip his start out of caution. The sophomore left-hander Mason Brassfield, TCU’s Saturday starter, will move up a day to pitch the series opener in place of Lapour. Brassfield is coming off of a strong start against Arkansas in their 5-4 win over the Razorbacks last Saturday, striking out six batters across four innings while giving up two runs.
Junior right-hander Logan Reddemann will take the ball for the Bruins to open the series as he takes on Mason Brassfield and the potent TCU lineup. The San Diego transfer made his first start as a Bruin last Friday against UC San Diego, throwing five innings while giving up three runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts. On Saturday, it will be TCU redshirt freshman right-hander Lance Davis taking on UCLA senior right-hander Michael Barnett. In the rubber match, it will be TCU freshman left-hander Uli Fernsler making his collegiate debut and UCLA junior right-hander Landon Stump squaring off.
There is not a shortage of offensive firepower in this series. Of course UCLA is headlined by shortstop Roch Cholowsky, the favorite to be the number one overall pick in the MLB Draft and one of the most talented position players college baseball has seen in recent memory. In four games thus far, he has already left the yard three times and owns a 1.688 OPS. Junior center fielder and Texas transfer Will Gasparino has actually led the charge for the Bruins to this point, leading the team in OPS at a mark of 1.779 with three home runs of his own. Gasparino will likely be joining Cholowsky in the pro ranks this summer following the draft as well. Junior first baseman Mulivai Levu has been as advertised at the plate too, posting a 1.365 OPS with a home run and has yet to strikeout.
TCU might feature an even deeper lineup than UCLA, and it’s headlined by sophomore Sawyer Strosnider and junior Chase Brunson - two outfielders with first round potential in the draft this July. Both are excellent athletes with defensive tools and even better bats. Brunson leads the team with a 1.214 OPS at the moment while Strosnider comes into the series with a 1.045 OPS. Freshman shortstop Lucas Franco is perhaps the most exciting freshman follow in this series as he’s playing an excellent shortstop as an everyday starter and launched his first collegiate home run in just the third at-bat of his college career in the Frogs season opener against Vanderbilt. Although he has yet to get on the board with the bat, it’s Noah Franco that presents himself as an intriguing two-way player and is coming off of a no-hit, three inning save over Arkansas in their win last Saturday and was named Big-12 Pitcher of the week after the fact. He is likely to once again see some high-leverage innings out of the bullpen against the Bruins this weekend.
A series win for TCU this weekend would certainly shoot them up rankings, especially the Baseball Focus top 25 as their #14 ranking has yet to be updated following their two ranked wins last weekend. There’s a chance that a sweep of UCLA can immediately vault TCU into the number one spot. However, that will be a tall task for the Frogs to take on. If UCLA drops a game but still manages to win the series, it’s unlikely that their spot at the top of the rankings is in jeopardy. Subscribe below to follow along this weekend and see the updated top 25 when it’s all said and done!
