Who does TCU play in the first round of the College World Series? A closer look at the Oral Roberts baseball roster

The TCU Horned Frogs have advanced past Indiana State Sycamores in their super regional to reach the College World Series. Their first-round matchup in the bracket round is against the surprising Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, and this should be an interesting matchup.

Oral Roberts is not a traditional baseball powerhouse, but definitely should not be taken lightly. Let's take a look at ORU's roster and program as a whole to determine which team has the advantage.

What does TCU pitching have to worry about?

This has been a major strength of the Golden Eagles as they were able to score 27 runs in their super regional matchup against the Oregon Ducks.

A major threat in their lineup has been junior Jonah Cox as he is seventh in NCAA with a .420 batting average and leads the country with 110 hits. As a team, they are fourth in Division I with a .323 team batting average, so they see the ball extremely well and find holes in the defense.

The lineup is not slouches in the power department either as they rank 33rd with 95 home runs over their 63 games. They find ways to score as they are 13th in the country with 8.5 runs per game (533 total runs).

What do the TCU hitters have to worry about?

ORU's pitching has struggled a bit throughout the postseason as the Golden Eagles have allowed 5.83 runs in their six postseason games. However, that has not been an issue throughout the season as they have been one of the best pitching teams in the nation as they pitch to a 3.97 team ERA, which is seventh in Division I.

TCU is going to have to attack pitches in the strike zone as Oral Roberts pitchers do an excellent job of attacking. Throughout the year, the Golden Eagles rank 16th in college baseball with a 2.73 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Will the TCU Horned Frogs defeat the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles?

This should be a very competitive matchup and arguably the best game of the first round in the bracket portion of the College World Series. TCU has been doing well, but this Oral Roberts team has been hitting extremely well.

It will be interesting to see if the pitching staff is able to correct its woeful performances or if the longer timespan of the season is wearing the pitching staff out.

TCU is the favorite in this game and should be as Oral Roberts is just playing with house money at this point. The clock strikes midnight on the Cinderella team as they will end up going 0-2 in the bracket play and be eliminated.