Feb. 12, 2013

CBI Big 12 preview

Inside: With TCU's Preston Morrison

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

phil@collegebaseballinsider.com @roadtoomaha

Preston Morrison is a sophomore right-hander from Waxhaw, N.C. He put together an outstanding freshman campaign for the Horned Frogs, going 9-2 in 22 appearances with 11 starts. Morrison worked 112.2 innings with 12 walks and 72 strikeouts while posting an ERA of 2.08 and opponent batting average of .216. He accumulated numerous postseason honors, including First Team All-Mountain West, MW Freshman of the Year, MW Pitcher of the Year and Freshman All-American.

In his collegiate debut against Ole Miss, Morrison set down all 10 batters he faced with a pair of strikeouts to earn his first victory. He pitched twice in the College Station Regional and made his final start of the season at the Los Angeles Super Regional.

TCU lost the opener of the College Station Regional to Ole Miss, but rebounded to beat Dayton, host Texas A&M and the Rebels twice to win the regional in dramatic fashion. The Horned Frogs lost twice to UCLA in the super regional.

1. What went into your decision to not play near home in the Southeast but to head to Texas for college?

I hadn’t really been recruited by a lot of the schools nearby that were ACC or SEC, and when TCU gave me the chance to come here to play, I knew I had to take advantage of this opportunity.

2. What were the keys for your outstanding freshman campaign?

I think I understood what kind of pitcher I was. I wasn’t going to try to be someone that I wasn’t. I stayed true to who I was and committed to the pitches that I was supposed to make.

3. How was your NCAA Tournament experience, both regional and super regional?

It was really awesome. Even though we lost our first game, it was really exciting, just a great honor to be able to come through the bottom of the bracket and win our regional like we did. Even though our super regional didn’t go as well as we wanted to, I took away a bunch of positives from that.

4. How familiar are you with your new conference brethren in the Big 12?

I pitched against Oklahoma last year during a midweek game, but other than that, not too familiar.

5. What are your personal and team goals for 2013?

As a team, I expect us to make a deep run and go to the College World Series. And myself, I don’t really worry about myself. I just want to do whatever I can to help us to that. I think that means for me making the pitches that I need to make and commit myself to making quality pitches and not worry about my results.

(photos courtesy of TCU Media Relations)