Sports

With Plenty Of Pitching, Big 12 Should Be Strong Again

February 11, 2015 / 4:29 PM CST / CBS Texas

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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - TCU, Texas Tech and Texas all made it to the College World Series last season. Oklahoma State also hosted an NCAA super regional after winning its first Big 12 regular season title.

For the same reason those four teams went so far last season, they are all preseason top 10 teams and could be in position to go deep again this year.

"It's a pitching-rich league. We all got guys who can develop," third-year Texas Tech coach Tim Tadlock said. "Pitching is at the forefront of our league. ... Not enough good can be said about pitching in our league."

Consider preseason Big 12 favorite TCU, where Brandon Finnegan went from pitching in the College World Series for the Horned Frogs last summer to being a first-round draft pick and four months later being on the mound for the Kansas City Royals in the World Series.

The Frogs still have a loaded pitching staff even without Finnegan and ninth-round draft pick Jordan Kipper. Senior right-hander Preston Morrison (9-4, 1.32 ERA) is the only pitcher ever to lead the Big 12 in ERA in consecutive seasons, and electric closer Riley Ferrell (school-record 15 saves, 0.79 ERA) is considered by many the top college prospect in the next MLB draft. They also return a 10-game winner in sophomore lefty Tyler Alexander.

While TCU has eight seniors, there will be new starters in left field, right field, at first base and catcher after the starters at those positions were also drafted.

"Everybody likes to talk about our pitching, there's some talent there," coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "Every school has their question marks. Ours isn't as solidified as people would like to think in my opinion, but we'll see how it goes."

Texas Tech and Oklahoma State each have 20 returning lettermen. The Red Raiders have two leftys who won eight games last season (Dylan Dusek and Cameron Smith) while the Cowboys are led by senior right-hander Jon Perrin (8-5, 2.38 ERA), who was in the bullpen before joining the starting rotation for Big 12 play. He went 5-3 with a 1.46 ERA and two shutouts.

Texas coach Augie Garrido, beginning his 47th season overall and 19th with the Longhorns, has seven returning starting position players. There are also nine pitchers, led by junior and No. 1 starter Parker French (7-5, 2.41 ERA), who beat Louisville in the College World Series.

A few other things to know about the upcoming Big 12 season, which starts Friday with every team in action:

DEFENDING TITLES: Before the Big 12 started play in 1997, Oklahoma State had won 16 consecutive regular-season titles in the Big Eight Conference. The last team to win consecutive Big 12 titles was Texas in 2010 and 2011. Baylor won the 2012 title and Kansas State was the 2013 champion.

BIG HITTERS: The league's top three hitters in batting average last season were all from West Virginia, but all are gone this season. Next on the list was Kansas senior outfielder Dakota Smith, who is back after hitting .337 last season. Texas Tech junior first baseman Eric Gutierrez led the Big 12 with 12 home runs and 58 RBIs last season as a sophomore, while also hitting .302.

HARD TO SCORE AGAINST: TCU led the nation with a team ERA of 2.22 last season, and the 2.25 by Texas ranked fourth nationally. The Big 12 was the only league to have two teams in the top 10 in ERA.

TOUGH OPENERS: Five of the league's nine teams will open against ranked teams. Baylor is home against Cal-Poly, Kansas is at LSU, Oklahoma State plays at Arizona State, Texas goes to Rice, and West Virginia is at Clemson.

BEEN AROUND AWHILE: While Garrido is nearly a half-century into coaching, the Big 12 coach at his school the longest is Baylor's Steve Smith, going into his 21st season. The Bears are coming off consecutive losing seasons for the first time in his tenure, and had finished under .500 only two other times since Smith's arrival before the 1995 season. Baylor does return seven starting position players and four starting pitchers. Ritch Price is starting his 13th season at Kansas, while Kansas State's Brad Hill and TCU's Schlossnagle are in their 12th.

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