TCU baseball ready to make some noise at the College World Series
FORT WORTH, Texas - The TCU baseball team left Fort Worth for a trip to the College World Series in Omaha.
The Horned Frogs will square-off with Oral Roberts on Friday.
This season, TCU was expected to be in this spot. They were picked to win the Big 12 conference.
But in April, the Frogs were dead in the water, losing eight of 10 games and making Omaha seemed like a long shot at best.
"Getting back on the plane after getting swept by West Virginia and getting run-ruled on that Sunday, you know, and flying back to town and just that was, that was a tough, tough moment in our season," said TCU head coach Kirk Sarloos.
"I remember everyone was down, but we still believed in ourselves. We knew what team we were, we knew how we did in the beginning of the year. We knew how good we are." said shortstop Anthony Silva.
Now TCU is one of the hottest teams entering the CWS. Their 11-game win streak is the longest running in the country.
"Get one win and then you get two. And next thing, you know, you, you kind of get a, get a, get a little bit of momentum going," said Sarloos.
"For us to bounce back like this and really just come together, I think it's been everything for us." said Horned Frog catcher Karson Bowen.
If you want to talk about Frog power, not only has this team gone 9 and 0 in the postseason, but the Frogs have outscored their opponents 102 to 33. That's over 11 runs scored per game.
"We're definitely one of the hottest teams in the country. It's going to be a dog fight this whole weekend. Every team that is there deserves to be there. We just have to play our game," said TCU outfielder Austin Davis.
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TCU's first opponent is arguably the other hottest team in the country: 51-win Oral Roberts out of Tulsa.
The Golden Eagles are a Cinderella story.
They're only the third team ever to make the College World Series after entering their regional as the lowest seed. In the super regional ORU blew an 8-run lead to lose Game 1 at Oregon, only to rally back and win the next two games. So there's no question how tough a test this shapes up to be for TCU.
"It's going to be tough. It doesn't matter once you get to Omaha, you're one of eight. So it doesn't matter if you're a four seed, two seed, one seed. Everybody has an opportunity and a chance," said Sarloos.
This is the sixth time the Frogs have made college baseball's biggest stage. Their first Omaha trip led by head coach Kirk Sarloos, not Jim Schlossnagle.
In Fort Worth, hope is high for the possibility of a National Championship.
[REPORTER: "Winning this whole thing would mean what?"]
"It would mean everything, I mean, it's the dream, that's it," said Bowen. "That's just the dream I've been dreaming about it since I got here since I was a kid. So it'd mean everything"
Frog Ball fans broke attendance records at Lupton Stadium in each of the last two games.
Now TCU is hoping they'll make a good showing in Omaha.
A lot of the people who attended Wednesday's send-off say they will be making the trip.