Oral Roberts coach Ryan Folmar explains approach to facing TCU pitcher Kole Klecker in CWS

It’s been a slow offensive start for Oral Roberts — and TCU — to kick off the College World Series on Friday, with both pitchers working through the opposing lineups with relative ease. Speaking with the ESPN broadcast in the bottom of the third inning, Oral Roberts head coach Ryan Folmar shared how his team can break through against Horned Frogs starter Kole Klecker.

He wants his team to strike a balance, albeit a tricky one, between avoiding fly ball outs and hitting too many ground balls leading to double plays. After his team had been up to bat three times and put a some pressure on TCU to no avail, Folmar took stock.

“I like what we’re doing. We gotta stay out of some double plays. Two double plays in three innings,” Folmar said. “Probably not going to get it done against this kind of team. It’s kind of that that catch 22 in this ballpark: You want to keep it out of the air with some routine fly ball outs, but you hit too many ground balls and you see what you got there.”

In the first and third innings, the Golden Eagles had grounded into double plays, the first time being inning-ending. In the fourth inning, Oral Roberts started to apply some two-out pressure with double down the left field line.

But on the first pitch of the next at-bat, Drew Stahl popped out foul to the first base side. With nearly half the game complete, Folmar and his Oral Roberts squad have plenty of work to do to break through against Klecker and TCU.

Folmar reflected on impact of Oral Roberts alum Jose Trevino

Earlier on the broadcast, ESPN shared a message that former Oral Roberts catcher Jose Trevino — now a New York Yankee — recorded.

Folmar was asked about the impact Trevino made on the program and the legacy he left behind.

“Well he did a lot for our program. What a great representative of our program, of our university. A guy that did it the right way and is having huge success and we’re super proud of him,” Folmar said.

In three years at Oral Roberts, Trevino hit .285 while playing in 157 games. In his final two seasons, he was stellar defensively, committing two errors each year. For his efforts, Trevino was drafted in 2014 and is now in the big leagues as a member of the Yankees organization.