I needed a day to collect my thoughts before I posted today. Yesterday was clearly a disappointing way to end the season because it was a terrible game. The pace was awful, the start was pitiful and the Frogs flat out got beat. But in some ways I preferred it that way because knowing that our hopes had been dashed, I could handle the defeat a little bit better. We needed our pitchers to hold UCLA to 3 runs or less, I felt, and giving up 5 runs basically ended the game before it started. And frankly, watching UCLA play Saturday a week ago, they quickly became my pick to win the College World Series and I think they were better than us.

So while the result was disappointing, I can take solace knowing that the Frogs were one of the last 4 teams playing this year. A little over 300 teams play college baseball and we were 1 of the last 4 playing. If I had offered you that at the start of the season, there is no question that you would have accepted. From the beginning of the year, I felt this team was one of the 10 best teams in the country. I thought this team was good enough to make it to Omaha, but I also thought next year would be the year we would make noise in Omaha. As it turns out, we were a year early to the party which only benefits us next year.

But before we turn the page to next year, I want to keep the moment alive for a little bit longer. I am not ready to say good bye to the guys that will never wear a TCU uniform again. Matt Curry said in his press conference, after hitting the amazing grand slam homerun that remains the signature moment of this College World Series, he knew that it could be his last at bat ever at TCU and he did not want to strikeout. His homerun allowed Bryan Holaday to hit a few more homeruns and for Tyler Lockwood to continue mesmerizing opposing hitters and fans alike. While Joe Weik will inherit 1st base from Matt Curry, Trent Appleby will fill in for Tyler Lockwood, and Jimmie Pharr and Josh Elander will battle it out to replace Bryan Holaday, it will never be the same.

Last year we made a big deal of Matt Vern and Matt Carpenter being the leaders of the first team to host a Regional on campus in Fort Worth and to be the first team to win a Regional and play in a Super Regional. This is what each of the TCU programs promote when they are on the recruiting trail. TCU wants guys who might have the talent to play at other places, but want to be part of something bigger. They can become part of a family and do things that no one before them have ever done before. Well the baseball and football programs might need to look into revising that sales pitch because after this amazing sports year, all that really remains is winning National Championships.

For now, Curry, Lockwood, Holaday, Paul Gerrish, and Eric Marshall can take pride in being the senior class that went to the College World Series. Not only that, they are the leaders that made TCU known nationally. Sure, teams in Texas and Oklahoma knew we were good, add Ole Miss and Cal State Fullerton to the groups that understood what TCU had, but now anyone who watched ESPN over the last week understands. From Florida State to UCLA, basically coast to coast, TCU is a national program. When it comes to getting a national seed and hosting a Regional and Super Regional, the committee can evaluate the Frogs as more than the champion of a second tier baseball conference, but rather a team that can compete with anyone. TCU is no longer at the kids table of college baseball and that changes everything.

One thing I hate about college sports is the summer. It will be a little over 2 months before I can root for my school again and nearly 8 more months before I can see a real game at Lupton Stadium. And when I go there, Matt Purke will undoubtedly be on the mound and people will quickly forget about 2010 and focus on winning it all in 2011. But every day I go to the park, I still hope that Clint Arnold will bat leadoff and play centerfield. I also hope for Matt Carpenter to be batting 4th and playing 3rd base. And I also keep hoping when I look out to the bullpen, Andrew Cashner will be out there ready to close the game. But in 2011, I really am going to be sad when Bryan Holaday is not batting 2nd and catching and my other personal favorite, Tyler Lockwood, is not out there in the bullpen sitting next to Cashner. I am sure there will be other favorites down the line, but I truly liked this team as a whole and I will miss the drafted juniors and departing seniors.

I had a chance to speak with Coach Schlossnagle before the season began and I only asked for one thing from him. I knew 2010 could be special because he had assembled the finest group of talent he had ever had at TCU and a lot of people had high hopes. But one of my lasting memories of 2009 was the passion with which that team played with. They were a squad that truly left everything out on the field and never took a day off. They did things the right way and they left it all out on the field. They were a team that could have gone the whole season without a win and I still would have paid to watch them play. They epitomized what college baseball is all about. All I requested from Coach Schlossnagle was a promise that win or lose, they would still play with that same energy that I have come to love so much from a TCU baseball squad. On that front, the 2010 has met and exceeded my expectations and for that I say thank you. And while this team will easily go down as the best team in TCU history, I hope they take pride in knowing that they made TCU proud because they represented the school the right way both on and off the field.