Sidearm Delivery Ep. 20 | TCU’s Kirk Saarloos + The Big 12 Battle
PodcastsWe’re back for another episode and heading to Texas this week to talk about the Big 12 and one of the hottest teams in the nation. Last episode, we talked to Stanford head coach Dave Esquer about the Cardinal and broke down the Pac-12 race with D1Baseball national analyst Mike Rooney. This week we’re virtually heading to the DFW to chat with TCU head coach Kirk Saarloos.
The Horned Frogs have had some ups and downs in the Saarloos’ first year as a head coach. They started 7-1 before losing a series at Kentucky, bounced back with a strong start to Big 12 play, winning a pair of series during an 11-game stretch where they won 10 games, but then TCU went 3-7 over their next 10 games and looked like they were in trouble with a pair of conference series against top five teams up next.
Instead of faltering, that’s when the Horned Frogs came alive. Saarloos and associate head coach Bill Mosiello worked their magic. TCU swept No. 4 Texas Tech and then went to No. 3 Oklahoma State and took the series, which pushed the Horned Frogs into first place in the Big 12 standings with a 12-6 record. They are now 27-13 on the season and have pushed themselves into the hosting conversation with an RPI of 27.
We’ll talk to Saarloos about the return of Austin Krob, his dynamic left side of the infield and the differences in being the head coach versus an assistant. We also get some insights on a really cool program TCU pitcher Luke Savage founded to help other baseball players.
Later in the episode, D1Baseball national writer Kendall Rogers joins the show to talk about the Big 12, getting his take on Texas Christian as well as all the three other contenders chasing the Horned Frogs atop the conference standings. We’ll also discuss the postseason outlook for the Big 12 and look at the spate of arm injuries to top pitchers not only in the Big 12 but across the country.
You can also check previous shows from this season, including our last episode which featured Stanford head coach David Esquer and D1Baseball national analyst Mike Rooney:
Ep. 19 – Stanford head coach David Esquer
Ep. 18 – Maryland head coach Rob Vaughn
Ep. 17 – Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin
Ep. 16 – St. Peter’s head coach Lou Proietti
Ep. 15 – Long Beach State’s Eric Valenzuela, Sacramento State’s Colin Hunter
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