Lance Davis, the No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Arkansas coming out of high school, set the state’s high school ERA record with a 0.14 in his senior year. He spent his first college season redshirting at the University of Arkansas and dealt with a foot injury during his time as a Razorback that kept him off the mound in 2025.

Since transferring to TCU in 2025, Davis has been a mainstay in the Horned Frogs’ rotation, making starts since February. The 6-foot-4 right-hander has a 3-3 record this season across 49 innings pitched with an ERA of 5.14. Davis has shown sharp command, with 32 strikeouts against 12 walks.

Redshirt freshman Lance Davis has found his footing this season, delivering seven-inning shutouts against Big 12 opponents UCF (March 21) and Arizona (April 11). Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Lately, Davis has been shining. The Frogs have picked up the win in his last five outings, dating back to March 21 against the University of Central Florida. In his last three starts, he is 2-0, throwing 20.2 innings, with a 2.61 ERA. His best game of the season was against Arizona on April 11, when he threw seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts, allowing just four hits and one walk.

Davis will try to build upon this momentum when he faces Houston on Saturday, April 25. The Frogs entered this series on a three-game winning streak and are facing a struggling Cougars team that has just three wins in its last 10 games.  

TCU Magazine spoke with Davis about his road to TCU and what lies ahead. 

What was your experience playing baseball growing up? 

I grew up in northeast Arkansas, in a small town, but a big baseball town. So that’s the thing we did growing up. It’s about an hour away from Memphis, so we would drive across the river and play some really good competition.

Did any of your family members play baseball?

No, actually. My parents were both basketball players, so it was sort of weird for them for me to be interested in baseball, but I hated basketball, so I picked up baseball and ran with it.

What does it feel like being able to get on the mound again?

It’s been awesome. You’ve got to get used to it again a little bit, but now that we’re halfway through the season, it’s about finding your footing and feeling a little better each week.

Lance Davis, center, was named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll at Arkansas. Now a criminal justice major at TCU, he has said becoming a lawyer is “sort of a dream” of his. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

What has been your favorite aspect of TCU Baseball so far?

The culture built by the guys before us — and what we’ve continued to build — is unmatched. There’s a great strength program, a great coaching staff that all mix together to have a successful program.

Do you feel that you’re more comfortable on the mound as of late?

Yeah, I think each week the goal is to get better, and I think so far I’ve done that. The goal moving forward is to keep improving.

What are your future plans?

I’m a criminal justice major, but I’ll see where baseball takes me and then hopefully get my degree here. That’d be special to me to come back and finish it at TCU. But I think for me, I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer, so that is sort of a dream of mine also.

Editor’s Note: The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity. 

— Grant Harris

Junior Colton Griffin has become a steady lineup presence for the Horned Frogs by embracing his utility role. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

A multi-sport athlete from Spring, Texas, Colton Griffin was first-team All-State in baseball at Klein Collins High School, batting .480. He also starred in football, where he played safety. Now, in his second season in a TCU Baseball uniform, the junior utilityman is displaying his versatility once again.

After transferring from Stephen F. Austin before the 2025 season, Griffin started 29 games in his first year with TCU — all on the infield dirt, mostly at third base. He hit .266 in his first year with the Frogs with nine extra-base hits.

This season, Griffin has shifted to the outfield and excelled defensively, maintaining a perfect fielding percentage and 55 putouts. So far this season, he is hitting .268 and is a perfect 8-for-8 on stolen base attempts.

TCU Magazine talked with Griffin about what he has learned as a Horned Frog.

What was your experience playing baseball growing up?

I’ve been around the game my whole life. My dad was my high school coach, and we were together all the time, practicing in the cage and everything. That shaped my values as a person. The discipline I have and the competitive nature of being around the game my whole life have really shaped the person that I am today.

Last season, you bounced around the infield quite a bit; now you’ve solidified yourself in the outfield. What does that say about your versatility defensively? 

Anywhere I play, it’s just for the team to find a way to win. Whatever the best position is for me to go out there and help the team succeed is where I want to be. It helps me as a person to be versatile and show that I can play every position and be an athlete.

What has the transition been like for you coming from Stephen F. Austin to TCU?

TCU is definitely a bigger school with way better competition playing in the Big 12. It’s been a grind. I think I’m getting more comfortable here. The coaching staff and our academic adviser have been awesome in helping me be in a position to succeed.

What is something that you have learned in your second year here at TCU?

The biggest thing is how to lead people. Not saying I’m one of the main leaders, but you know, playing every pitch, playing every game, and going about things the right way and having the right attitude in every situation.

Colton Griffin has 26 hits this year, already surpassing his 2025 total with upward of a month remaining in the regular season. Courtesy of TCU Athletics.

What is your favorite thing to do when you have free time?

An ideal Saturday for me would probably be sitting on the couch with my roommates playing “MLB The Show,” or some other video game.

What are your future plans?

If baseball doesn’t work out, I think I have set myself up pretty well. I’m in the Neeley School of Business as a marketing major, so I’d like to do something along the sales and marketing side of things. Just making a connection with somebody and finding a good spot that interests me and I can invest in in the future.

Editor’s Note: The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity. 

— Grant Harris

TCU came into the 2026 season with high outside expectations, ranking in D1Baseball’s national Top 10 before play began in mid-February. Two months later, the Horned Frogs carry a 20-12 record and a 7-5 mark in the Big 12, still in the midst of the race but looking to find the form that made them unanimous coaches’ favorites to win the conference.

Strong at Home, Searching on the Road 

Head coach Kirk Saarloos’ team opened up the year on a high note at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas, going 2-1 and beating No. 7 Arkansas and No. 23 Vanderbilt. The following weekend, the Frogs took a trip to Los Angeles to face the No. 1 UCLA Bruins and No. 1 MLB Draft Prospect Roch Cholowsky and got swept in a three-game series. Since that point, TCU has gone 18-7 and dropped out of the Top 25.

“At some point, we’ll start putting together good baseball. I don’t know who we are,” Saarloos said after the Frogs lost two out of three at Arizona State in March. “When we don’t pitch, we hit, and when we pitch, we don’t hit. That’s a bad recipe.”

TCU has, indeed, picked it up since that midseason swoon, winning seven of its last nine heading into a weekend series against Arizona at Lupton Stadium, where the Frogs have thrived all year, going 13-3. It’s been a different story away from Fort Worth, where TCU is 5-7 on the road and 2-2 in neutral site games.

Missing Pieces 

The Frogs have won seven of 10 games since Noah Franco’s return from injury, picking up wins in each of his last four appearances. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Health has been an issue for the Frogs all season, with two of the team’s stars missing significant time.

Junior pitcher and MLB Draft prospect Tommy LaPour has only made one start this year, coming on Opening Day. The Frogs have missed his presence on the mound; he provided them 90.1 innings last season, posting a 3.09 ERA. Getting LaPour back on the bump would be a massive boost for a Horned Frog squad pursuing a second College World Series berth since 2023.

The other expected starter to suffer an early-season injury, sophomore Noah Franco, returned on March 22. Franco is a two-way player who provides big power potential, both on the mound and in the batter’s box. Franco hit 11 home runs last year and tops out at 97 miles per hour as a southpaw. The Downey, Calif., native has done well coming out of the bullpen since his return, conceding no runs and allowing only three base runners over his past four and a third innings pitched against Texas Tech, Lamar and Kansas State.

Sagouspe Shines Amid Pitching Struggles

Senior Tanner Sagouspe has been a bright spot for a pitching staff ranking 11th out of 14 Big 12 teams with a 6.18 club ERA. The Cal Poly transfer sports a 1.77 ERA across 20 and a third innings in nine appearances.

Sophomores Nate Stern and Zack James have also contributed stability out of the bullpen. Stern has logged 17 innings across 11 bullpen appearances, striking out 21 batters with a 3.18 ERA. James is 4-0 in his nine appearances, making two starts. His season ERA sits at 3.52 across 30 and two-thirds innings; on April 5, he fanned five batters and conceded just five hits and a walk across eight innings in a 4-0 shutout of Kansas State.

Draft Prospects Living Up to the Hype 

Sophomore outfielder Sawyer Strosnider ranks No. 10 on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Draft Prospect list. So far this season, he’s delivered, batting .304 with 10 home runs (he hit 11 all of last season). He also has six doubles, three triples and nine stolen bases, which ties him for the team lead with junior outfielder Chase Brunson.

Sawyer Strosnider leads the team with 10 home runs, 41 RBI, 41 runs scored and 32 walks, continuing to show why he projects as a first-round MLB Draft prospect. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Strosnider told assembled media in March that he is “starting to get more comfortable” manning the outfield alongside Brunson, a fellow MLB prospect. The two often rotate between playing center and right field. “Brunson’s an amazing outfielder, too,” Strosnider said. “It’s a good problem to have, having two good players who can play centerfield.”  

Brunson, whose 32 RBI place him second on the club behind Strosnider’s 41, is batting .283 with an on-base percentage of .458 and 13 extra-base hits.

Bell, Cramer Leading the Charge at the Plate

Junior infielder Jack Bell earned a place on the NCAA Baseball Lineup of the Week for his performances against Dallas Baptist and Texas Tech in late March, during which he hit .588 with three home runs, adding a double and seven RBI. Bell is hitting .317 on the year with an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of 1.019, good for second on the team.

Another key to the Frogs’ recent success has been graduate infielder Cole Cramer heating up at the plate at the right time. Over the last nine games, Cramer has 20 hits, including three home runs and three doubles.

Frogs Still Standing in a Bunched Big 12

Coming off a five-game winning streak highlighted by a series sweep of rival Texas Tech at Lupton Stadium between March 27 and 29, TCU managed to take two out of three games on the road against Kansas State this past weekend, before suffering a 4-1 loss at Abilene Christian on Tuesday.

Chase Brunson and the Horned Frogs still have plenty to play for, sitting tied for fourth in a highly competitive Big 12 with several key road series ahead. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

While the season hasn’t gone entirely according to plan, the Frogs still find themselves in the thick of the Big 12 race, currently tied for fourth place. The league is fairly balanced from top to bottom, with five teams being either tied with or within a game of TCU.

The Frogs’ remaining road conference series come against three teams currently bunched with them in the standings: West Virginia (third), Baylor (tied for fourth) and Oklahoma State (seventh).

— Grant Harris

When former TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati hired Mark Campbell away from Sacramento State in the spring of 2023, he handed over the keys to a program that had won three Big 12 games over the previous two seasons. On Monday night at the Golden 1 Center, in the very city where Campbell’s head coaching career began, those two men will be in the arena on opposite sides: Donati, now the athletic director at South Carolina, and Campbell, 40 minutes from his program’s first Final Four.

Now comes the clearest measure yet of how far TCU has come. Third-seeded TCU (32-5) faces No. 1 South Carolina (34-3), with the Big 12’s first women’s Final Four berth since 2019 on the line. The last time these programs met, in December 2024 at Dickies Arena, the Gamecocks turned a 21-point halftime lead into a 33-point win — the most lopsided defeat of the Campbell era. 

TCU has gone 57-8 since that night, won two conference titles and built the case, brick by brick, that it won’t happen like that again. Campbell said the past year has sharpened his understanding of what it takes to challenge the sport’s blue bloods. “This is what they do every single year.”

Stretch forward Marta Suárez posted a career-high 33 points to lead TCU past No. 10-seeded Virginia in Saturday’s Sweet 16 clash. The graduate student leads the Horned Frogs in scoring over the past 12 games. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

What TCU brings to Monday’s game is a roster built around one of the most dynamic players in the tournament. Graduate guard Olivia Miles, averaging 19.3 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists through three rounds, is one of only three players in NCAA history to record multiple triple-doubles in NCAA Tournament play.

She notched her 900th career assist in Saturday’s win over Virginia, reached 246 assists on the season to break her own single-season record and entered Monday needing just one more win to give TCU its first Elite Eight victory. Campbell’s sense of wonder at her gifts has not dimmed. “Male or female,” he said. “There’s like half a dozen people in the world that have her vision, that can process it that quickly, that can throw a one-handed bounce pass to the opposite corner, off the dribble, on a laser, and then do it with her left hand.” 

“I feel like I’ve blossomed as a scorer,” Miles told reporters Sunday, crediting teammates who space the floor and post players who free her with screens. “It’s allowed me to read different situations and be aggressive.” 

Miles may spend much of the night tracking Raven Johnson, the Gamecocks’ only active returning starter from the teams’ 2024 matchup. Johnson is the engine of a South Carolina offense that pairs three veteran guards — Campbell called the trio “as good as anybody in college basketball” — with post players who can punish you at the rim or step out to 17 feet. “They have five players on any given night,” Campbell said, “that can really, really hurt you.”

Raven Johnson’s Gamecock backcourt mates Ta’Niya Latson and Tessa Johnson each average scoring totals in double figures, while sophomore forward and second-team All-American Joyce Edwards goes for 19.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

Graduate forward Marta Suárez, who set TCU’s tournament records for points (33) and made field goals in a single game against Virginia, will need to be one of the primary answers. Suárez has led TCU in scoring over the past dozen games, and she and Miles scored or assisted on all 79 Horned Frog points in the Sweet 16. “I think she’s just, it’s a different talent,” Suárez said of Miles, the player who makes everyone around her better. Miles returned the sentiment: “She’s enabled me to go out there and play the best version of me.” 

Sophomore center Clara Silva is peaking in March, posting 37 points, 27 rebounds and nine blocks across three NCAA Tournament games. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Key, too, will be junior guard Donovyn Hunter and senior guard Taylor Bigby, veterans who have averaged close to 40 minutes per game in the tournament, with Bigby compiling a career-high 27 points in the opening round. 

Campbell will also need sophomore center Clara Silva, who’s averaged better than 12 points and nine rebounds for the tournament, to hold her own inside against one of the deepest frontcourts in the country. “Rebounding against South Carolina, you have to be able to battle them on the boards,” he said. “Their post players are some of the best posts in college basketball.” 

Tip-off is at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN. 

— Corey Zapata-Smith

“The Nest” is what they call the gym at Sacramento State. Mark Campbell, then a first-time head coach, spent two seasons there learning what it takes to build something special. On Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. CT, Campbell and his TCU Horned Frogs return to California’s capital for the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, this time with more at stake.

The “full circle moment” Campbell describes in returning to Sacramento is more spiral than loop. The program Campbell inherited at TCU in 2023 had managed 24 wins over the previous three seasons. The team that touched down in California on Wednesday carries a 31-5 record and the ambitions of a program that has now posted back-to-back 30-win seasons, a distinction shared with only a handful of programs nationally, almost all of which are still playing. TCU has reached the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year, and just the second time in program history.

Mark Campbell left Sacramento as Big Sky Coach of the Year. He returns three years later with a 31-5 Horned Frogs team and an Elite Eight ticket on the line. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Standing between TCU and another Elite Eight berth is No. 10 seed Virginia, one of the most improbable Sweet 16 participants of all time. The Cavaliers entered the tournament through the First Four, then won three games in five days — a 57-55 play-in victory over Arizona State, followed by an overtime win over No. 7 seed Georgia and a shocking double-overtime takedown of Iowa — before moving on. TCU’s sophomore center Clara Silva caught the film session and came away with respect. “I think they have really good guards,” she said. “We watched the game yesterday against Iowa. They fight and fight until the end.”

Campbell isn’t selling the Cavaliers short, either. “Virginia’s an elite basketball team that’s playing really good, and they have a star at their point guard position. She’s, right now, playing as well as anybody in the country.” That star, Kymora Johnson, has averaged 24.3 points per game across the Cavaliers’ three tournament outings. She presents a challenge, but not a profile the Frogs find unfamiliar. “Olivia Miles will get you ready to play an elite playmaking guard,” Campbell said of his team getting reps against the three-time All-American every practice for the past seven months.

Miles has been extraordinary. The Big 12 Player of the Year has accumulated a combined 30 points, 26 rebounds and 22 assists across TCU’s first two tournament wins, a statistical run that has little precedent in NCAA Tournament history. She enters Saturday needing just two points to reach 700 for the season. In the Big Dance, she is a different player: Through eight career tournament appearances, she has averaged 8.3 assists and more than seven rebounds per game alongside her scoring.

But what makes this TCU team genuinely dangerous is that it doesn’t require Miles to shoulder the load single-handedly.

Silva’s development is the season’s quietest revelation. Campbell called Sunday’s overtime survival against Washington the best game of her career; she hit the go-ahead basket twice on her way to 16 points and eight boards, adding a pair of blocks. “I’m really thankful that I get to be part of this journey,” said the Kentucky transfer, who last year helped the Wildcats reach the tournament’s second round.

Taylor Bigby is among the eight seniors and graduate students on the Horned Frogs’ roster. The 6-foot-1 guard has scored 42 points over the past pair of outings, her most over a two-game stretch all season. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Senior guard Taylor Bigby has been equally transformed. Shooting better than 55 percent from three-point range across 11 career tournament games, she erupted for a program-record 27 in the opening round against UC San Diego and added 15 against Washington. She is not interested in tempering expectations. “I feel like my confidence has grown a lot, and it’s at a high right now,” she said. “I don’t plan on coming down.”

For Bigby, the stakes need no inflation. “It means a lot, and I mean, at the end of the day, too, like, it’s also my last year. … The goal is to always be dancing in March, so to still be dancing is a blessing, and I’m just super excited, and I’m proud of my team.”

Campbell has shaped this roster into a group that refuses to lose close games. They trailed by eight at halftime against Washington, fell behind Big 12 heavyweights Iowa State and West Virginia in the final quarter during the regular season and found a way through. “There’s been a lot of close games that we had to grind out and find a way to win,” he said. “This team, they’re gritty, they’re tough, they’re a bunch of old vets.”

The Horned Frogs hold opponents to 33.4 percent from the floor — best among all Division I programs — and their frontcourt size, anchored by the Silva-Kennedy Basham duo, makes them uniquely difficult to attack at the rim.

At the Golden 1 Center on Saturday night, Bigby, Basham and a senior-laden Frogs squad will try to keep dancing.

— Corey Zapata-Smith

TCU outlasted Washington, 62-59, in overtime. Next stop: Sacramento.

Near the end of 45 grueling minutes, Washington’s freshman forward Brynn McGaughy corralled the inbound pass, pivoted on her left foot while surveying her options, then found her team’s top scorer, junior guard Sayvia Sellers, at the arc.

Sellers had an open look for a three. She caught, set and fired. One last breath. The ball bounced off the back rim and high into the air.

It hung there for a moment, then came down, tipped away by TCU’s Clara Silva as the final decimals faded from the clock.

What followed was more collective exhale than celebration.

The Horned Frogs rallied from a 27-19 halftime deficit to defeat six-seeded Washington in overtime Sunday, advancing to the program’s second Sweet 16 in as many seasons. Photo by Percise Windom

Trailing by eight at halftime and shooting 26 percent from the field, the Horned Frogs clawed back one possession at a time, briefly pushing ahead in the fourth quarter and finally breaking loose with a 7-0 overtime-opening run en route to punching their ticket to the Sweet 16.

“That was just a gritty, resilient game,” head coach Mark Campbell said. “We were down the whole time. They just stayed in the fight.”

The night belonged to Silva. The sophomore center finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks, anchoring a defense that held Washington to 35 percent shooting for the game.

TCU’s All-American guard Olivia Miles, who went 2-of-11 from the field in the first half, was a different player after the break, when she was 7-of-13.

At halftime, Miles had already steadied her teammates before Campbell said a word. “I just was telling them, ‘They’re not gonna give it to us. This is what March is about.’ ”

When play resumed, Miles attacked the paint, created opportunities for others and finished just short of a triple-double with 18 points, 10 rebounds and game-high eight assists.

TCU’s Taylor Bigby, a senior guard who spent much of the night chasing the Huskies’ Avery Howell through screens, hit the shot that may have won it — a three-pointer early in overtime that pushed the lead to five and took the air out of Washington’s rally. “I took it really personal going into the second half,” Bigby said of her defensive assignment “I knew that’s what my team needed in order for us to win.”

TCU forward Marta Suárez, playing with four fouls for most of the second half, said she refused to play tentatively. “It was a very tight game.”

Newly named Big 12 Player of the Year Olivia Miles finished just two assists shy of a second consecutive triple-double during Sunday’s comeback win over Washington. Photo by Percise Windom

Miles said the win was far from easy. “I was crashing out multiple times. I was angry, I was feeling all the emotions because I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t want to let my team down.”

As she walked toward the handshake line after the final buzzer sounded, Miles blew kisses and flashed heart hands to the Schollmaier crowd. For Bigby, who, like Miles, played her final collegiate game in Fort Worth, the moment was special. “It’s a blessing,” she said. “My teammates, my coaches, I wouldn’t be here without them and the confidence they instill in me. There’s no other way to go out with my last games here at the Scholl. It’s definitely gonna be something I remember.”

Now TCU heads to California’s capital, where the 31-5 Horned Frogs will face No. 2 seed Iowa or No. 10-seeded Virginia on Thursday or Friday at the Golden 1 Center, in the city where Campbell spent two seasons leading Sacramento State. “To take a program that’s 1-17 and get back to the Sweet 16,” Campbell said of the turnaround from a one-win Big 12 season in 2022-23, “it’s happened two times in the history of our school. And that was last year and this year. … I’m thankful we get another 40 minutes together. We get another week together.”

— Corey Zapata-Smith

Forty minutes. That’s all head coach Mark Campbell promised his team. So he put the number on their jerseys — front and back, in practice all week — and let it do the talking. 

On Friday morning at Schollmaier Arena, TCU made every one of those minutes count, routing UC San Diego 86-40 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. In what Campbell would call her best game as a Horned Frog, three-time All-American Olivia Miles delivered her sixth triple-double this season — 12 points, 14 assists and a career-high 16 rebounds — becoming the first player in NCAA history to record at least 14 rebounds and 14 assists in a tournament game. For good measure, she pulled even with former Horned Frog Hailey Van Lith atop the program’s single-season scoring list, finishing with 680 points.

Senior guard Taylor Bigby torched the Tritons for a career-high 27 points on 7-of-9 shooting from three. TCU never trailed. The result pushed TCU to a 43rd straight home win, the longest streak in the country, and kept the program perfect at Schollmaier Arena in postseason play at 11-0.

Taylor Bigby went 7-for-9 from three-point range en route to a career-high 27 points during TCU’s 86-40 win against UC San Diego in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

The tone was set before UCSD could catch its breath. Graduate forward Marta Suárez went 3-for-3 from three-point range in the opening quarter, hitting from 23, 25 and 24 feet, as TCU bolted to a 24-12 lead after the first period. The Horned Frogs shot 50 percent from three for the game, finishing 13-of-26 from deep.

Then came Bigby. In a second quarter that put the game away, she erupted for four consecutive three-pointers, three of them fed by Miles, extending TCU’s lead to 29. When her fourth straight three dropped through the net, her teammates sprinted to half court to meet her. She finished 8-of-10 from the field.

“Seeing Taylor in the gym every day, working on those shots, those very shots,” Miles said, “to see it come out when it actually matters, you can’t help but be happy for that person.”

Campbell called it earned. “It’s been two years now. … Her teammates have seen her grind, and she’s amazing. Her and Dono [Donovyn Hunter] are the backbone and the staples of the last two years.”

Miles, meanwhile, wasn’t playing for the box score. “I literally told Mark, I was like, ‘If I go out there and I have zero points and 20 assists, I’ll be just as happy,’ ” she said. “That’s just what I love to do.” But then: “Once I heard that I had 10 rebounds early on, I was like, ‘Okay. I have to complete it now.’ ”

She did. “To break our all-time single-game assist record while having a triple-double during March Madness,” Campbell said. “Holy cow.”

Olivia Miles’ historic triple-double Friday included 12 points, a career-high 16 rebounds and 14 assists. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Miles set the physical tone from the opening tip. “I promised myself that I’d help my team out in any way that I can, and I know that it starts with me,” she said.

The defensive wall TCU erected was equally formidable. Sophomore center Clara Silva and senior center Kennedy Basham combined for five blocks, anchoring a scheme built around the program’s extraordinary length. “Those two have become just an incredible two-headed monster,” Campbell said. “When you have two 6-7 kids like that, it’s really hard to score over them.” Campbell believes that size advantage only grows in March. “You got to defend and rebound to win,” he said.

Also Friday, Washington defeated South Dakota State 72-54 in the first round. Guard Avery Howell connected on 7-of-13 three-point attempts for a game-high 30 points. The Huskies will face TCU on Sunday at Schollmaier Arena at 9 p.m. CT. 

For Miles and Suárez, playing out their final seasons in Fort Worth, Sunday’s matchup will be their last chance to suit up at Schollmaier — a TCU victory would send the Horned Frogs to Sacramento for the next two rounds. “That’s 40 down,” Campbell said. “We got 40 left.” 

“We haven’t put together a full 40 minutes of TCU basketball this season,” Miles said, “and even though Mark may say we did today, I do think there’s a whole other level we can get to.” 

TCU women’s basketball is going dancing again, and once again, it is doing it at home. 

When the bracket was unveiled Sunday, 14th-ranked TCU learned it had been awarded a No. 3 national seed, the second-highest in program history, and earned hosting rights for the opening two rounds of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship. The occasion marks TCU’s 11th appearance in the Big Dance and, more significantly, the program’s second in a row, the first time the Horned Frogs have strung together consecutive berths since 2009 and 2010. 

TCU’s Schollmaier Arena, which hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament in 2025, will do so again in 2026 after the Horned Frogs earned a No. 3 seed. Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Zach Campbell

“Anyone that gets the chance to play in March knows the advantage that you have playing at your home site,” said junior guard Donovyn Hunter. “The fans, the community, they all showed up for us last year. So, I’m super excited that we’re able to do it again. Obviously, it’s a testament to the work that our team has done.” 

The Horned Frogs (29-5, 15-3 Big 12) will open the tournament Friday at Schollmaier Arena against No. 14 seed UC San Diego (24-8, 17-3 Big West). Last year’s TCU squad was a No. 2 seed and reached the Elite Eight, the program’s first trip to the second weekend of March Madness. This year, the women returned, and brought the men’s program along for the ride, the first time in school history both teams have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in the same season. 

Nothing about that was accidental. 

“Over the course of 34 games, we put together a résumé that the committee felt we were worthy of hosting,” said head coach Mark Campbell. “That’s really, really hard to do. And it was one of those things that in June, we set as a team goal. And this group has been chasing that this whole year.” 

With a win in Round 1, TCU would become one of six programs nationally to have assembled back-to-back 30-win seasons, joining No. 1 seeds UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina, plus Fairleigh Dickinson, whom the Frogs defeated in the first round of last season’s tournament. Since the current coaching staff arrived in March of 2023, the Horned Frogs have accumulated 84 victories, seventh-most in the country over that stretch, and rank fifth nationally in both win percentage (.875) and total wins (63) across the past two seasons. They enter the tournament as the only program in the 68-team field to have claimed consecutive outright Power Conference regular-season titles.

Cal transfer Marta Suárez is averaging a career-high 17.2 points per game in her first season with the Frogs. The stretch forward and 2026 all-conference first-teamer is among the newcomers who’ve helped push TCU to the brink of a second consecutive 30-win campaign. Courtesy of TCU Athletics | Amanda Transou

“Elite programs are consistent,” Campbell said. “And so, for us to do this … I think it shows how special TCU is, our athletic department, and our staff’s ability to build these teams, really from scratch.” 

Despite a heavy roster overhaul from the 2024-25 team, nine players on this year’s roster have NCAA Tournament experience, combining for 37 appearances across their careers. 

That veteran presence matters in a month when every possession carries heightened weight.

“It’s just an aspect of desperation,” said graduate guard and recently named Big 12 Player of the Year Olivia Miles. “You know your season’s on the line, your journey’s on the line with a group of people you really care about. So, that’s the difference between March and the regular season. It ultimately just comes down to preparation and detail-driven focus. That’s kind of what the margin of error is, and how slim it is, that decides these games.”

Friday’s opener, set for an 11 a.m. CST tipoff, presents a genuine test. UC San Diego’s Erin Condron, who has spent all three of her college seasons with the Tritons in an era when that kind of constancy is increasingly rare, is one of the more complete players in the bracket, the 6-foot-4 junior forward leading the Tritons in scoring at 15.7 points per game, rebounding at 8.6 per game and blocks at 1.3 per game while converting 53.6 percent of her field goal attempts. Senior guard Makayla Rose adds 12.8 points and a team-high 3.2 steals per game. 

A TCU victory would set up a Sunday matchup at Schollmaier against the winner of No. 6 Washington and No. 11 South Dakota State. The Huskies, last year making only their second NCAA Tournament since 2017, are anchored by guards Sayvia Sellers, who averages 18.5 points and 3.7 assists per game, and Avery Howell, who contributes 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. South Dakota State counters with senior forward Brooklyn Meyer, a three-time All-Summit player for the Jackrabbits, who leads her team in scoring at 22.4 points per game, rebounds at 8.0, assists at 2.7 and blocks at 1.9 while shooting 64.6 percent from the floor.

— Corey Zapata-Smith

TCU infielder Jack Bell made an immediate impact for the Frogs last year, hitting a grand slam in his first at-bat in purple. The Corpus Christi, Texas, native was particularly good in the 2025 Big 12 Tournament, earning All-Tournament Team honors.

Bell is a third baseman who has the versatility to play all of the infield positions. He appeared in 55 games in his first season with the Frogs, hitting .259 with a .376 on-base percentage and slugging .453. Bell swatted five home runs as part of his 14 total extra-base hits last season. 

TCU Magazine sat down with Bell to talk about his move from College Station to Cowtown, his unforgettable first at bat and why he wants to be a baseball agent. 

Infielder Jack Bell earned All-Big 12 Tournament honors in his first season as a Horned Frog in 2025. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

How did you get into baseball? 

I don’t really come from a baseball family. I began playing at the age of 3. I had a great support system growing up. When I was 5, I started playing travel ball. I took it seriously enough that I played all the way through high school, played my freshman year of college at Texas A&M and then transferred over here last season. It was the best decision of my life coming to TCU.

You appeared in 19 games in your freshman season at Texas A&M, hitting .250 while drawing eight walks to just five strikeouts. How was the transition of playing under Jim Schlossnagle — who previously coached at TCU — to eventually coming to Fort Worth yourself?

After we lost the national championship game, our coach left to go to Texas. As soon as that happened, I entered the portal, and TCU was one of my first calls. I stepped on campus here, and I knew it was home.

Last season, you recorded six hits and five RBIs in the Big 12 Tournament. How do you take that experience in a playoff environment and carry it into this season?

It’s all about confidence. The coaches have confidence in me, and I have confidence in them. That allows me to go out there and play freely. So, rolling into my junior year, I’m a veteran now. I’m confident in myself; I’m relaxed. I know what’s going on. I don’t feel like the game is sped up anymore, and so I’m just having fun. 

In the opening series last year against San Diego, you came to the plate with the bases loaded. What was it like having your first-ever at-bat for the Frogs to be a pinch-hit grand slam?

It was surreal. I saw the fastball low and away and knew I was going to be able to put a good swing on it, and watched it fly over the left-centerfield wall.

Bell, a communication studies major, hopes to parlay his TCU education into a career as a sports agent after his playing days are done. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

What are your plans for the future after baseball at TCU?

I hope to get my name called in the MLB Draft, but you never know. So, outside of that, I’d want to be an agent. I love baseball and would love to help players get better and reach their full potential.  

What will this year’s TCU team emphasize to reach its goals?

A lot of things, but I think it comes down to simply playing winning baseball. It’s as simple as our pitchers throwing strikes, our hitters hitting the strikes, and taking the balls. Going out there trying to play winning baseball is the most important thing we can do.  

Editor’s Note: The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity. 

— Grant Harris

Cole Cramer, second baseman for the TCU Horned Frogs, has been a steady presence in the lineup and the clubhouse since transferring from Washington State in 2024. From a junior college field in Oregon to All-Pac-12 recognition in 2024, Cramer has now carved out his place as the reliable leadoff batter for Frogball.  

Starting all 59 games in his first season at TCU, he drew the most walks on the team and hit .320 on the year with 14 extra-base hits. He earned 2025 Big 12 All-Tournament Team honors for his postseason performance.  

Now he’s a senior and a leader in the clubhouse.

TCU Magazine spoke to Cramer about his journey from Arlington, Wash. to Fort Worth, the grind of a 60-game season and his mentorship of the young 2026 Horned Frog roster.

You spent your entire life living in the Pacific Northwest before coming to TCU. How was that transition?

It was really smooth; it is a lot different over here, a different lifestyle. I love the weather. Growing up and playing baseball when it’s 32 degrees out, I appreciate coming to the field in the middle of February when it’s 75 and sunny.

Cole Cramer was sold on TCU after coming to campus as a visiting player in 2024. “When you’re playing a midweek game on a Tuesday, and you show up and there’s 5,000 people in a place that’s rocking, that’s really cool.” Courtesy of TCU Athletics

What was something about TCU that made you want to transfer here?

When I was at Washington State, we played TCU in a midweek game, and they sold out. I remember coming down thinking this place is really cool. When you’re playing a midweek game on a Tuesday, and you show up and there’s 5,000 people in a place that’s rocking, that’s really cool. You’re like, “Man I want to go play at a place where they get a bunch of fans to come to games and the people are passionate about baseball.”

You’re the only returning starter to play all 59 games last season. How do you maintain that level of consistency both physically and mentally throughout the season?

Just staying consistent with the habits. Getting in the training room, doing what you have to do in lift and just not trying to overdo things. If something’s not feeling great, make sure you get in treatment to get it worked on. The more you play, the more you get used to it.

Those first couple weeks usually are the toughest. I think we do a good job in the fall and this early spring of really playing a lot of baseball so you can get used to that. Once you get back into the swing of things by that third or fourth week you can get your legs back under you, and it’s pretty smooth from there.

You led the team in walks last year with 43. Is that patient approach something that comes naturally, or is that something you’ve had to develop over your years of college baseball?

When I was in junior college, I was like, “How quickly can I see the first pitch, or how quickly can I get on base?” As I’ve developed more as a hitter, I’ve learned that if we can make that guy on the mound work more and I can have a long at bat and we can get the pitchers out early, that can help us not only in that game but help us in the rest of the weekend series.

In my book, a walk is a hit. I know what my role is: There are bigger dudes who hit balls a little farther than me that hit behind me, so if I can get on base for those guys, I can let them do their job.

Cramer notched career hit No. 150 during a 20-1 win over New Haven on March 1. Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Off the field, what do you do to rewind and reset throughout a long season?

I have great teammates. If I’m not on the field, I’m with them. We play a lot of golf, we mix in some fishing, we go play basketball. Friendly competition keeps us busy. We go to the football games. We went to the basketball game against Iowa State. Soccer in the fall is very fun; we go to quite a few soccer games. Just being able to support other athletes is really cool. I enjoy watching all the other sports. Looking back, I would love to be a soccer player. I’d also love to be a football player, but I chose baseball, and I’m glad I did.

You’re one of the veterans on this team. How has your role in the clubhouse changed?

Last year it was tough being a transfer and trying to play a vocal role, but you slowly work your way into it. Being in my fifth year, I’ve played enough college games to pick up on little cues from the other team. I always try to be a vocal leader for the guys and lead by example.

Editor’s Note: The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity. 

— Grant Harris