TCU coach Kirk Saarloos has amazing reaction to Cole Fontenelle's solo HR vs. Oral Roberts

It’s safe to say that TCU baseball coach Kirk Saarloos enjoyed himself during his interview with ESPN in the College World Series opener for the Horned Frogs on Friday.

As Saarloos was speaking with Karl Ravech, Eduardo Pérez and Ben McDonald during the fourth inning, TCU slugger Cole Fontenelle belted a solo home run just over the wall in right field for a 1-0 lead.

Saarloos had just talked about the wind and how the pitching conditions greatly benefited the pitchers, before Fontenelle snuck a home run over the wall in right. The second-year head coach was unsure if the ball would get over the fence off the bat, but he was certainly glad it did.

“Hey, that’s pretty fun. Way to go. … What are you guys doing the next half inning?” Saarloos said, joking that he might return for another round of questions after the interview brought some good luck. “I didn’t know if that had enough juice with the Southeast wind, but Cole’s a strong man.”

The 1st HR of the series!#MCWS x 🎥 ESPN / @TCU_Baseball pic.twitter.com/UhsntqWIQP

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) June 16, 2023

Saarloos then called Fontenelle over to discuss his home run and if he knew the ball was gone off the bat.

“I was just trying to get a pitch I could handle. Saw a pitch up and didn’t try to do too much,” he said. “I wasn’t sure. The wind’s blowing in, but I knew I got a good barrel on it.”

Oral Roberts pitcher Jakob Hall has been excellent through five innings, allowing only the one run. Saarloos praised Hall and said that having the right mindset at the plate is key to having a shot at success.

“That’s what good hitters do. They swing at good pitches, they put good swings on it. Brayden [Taylor] did that the at bat before, Cole did that,” Saarloos said. “This guy’s crafty. You’ve gotta be disciplined. When you are not disciplined he will chew you up and Cole did a good job of getting a pitch to hit.”

Kirk Saarloos was confident entering 2023 season

Kirk Saarloos replaced Jim Schlossnagle as the head coach at TCU after Schlossnagle accepted the head coaching job at Texas A&M following the 2021 season.

Some thought it might take the program some time to rebound from losing Schlossnagle but that certainly wasn’t the case. The Horned Frogs advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2022, and in Year 2 under Saarloos are in Omaha. Saarloos was confident the TCU program would do well this season.

“Well, nobody over here thought that. I don’t know who was talking about that,” he said when asked about a potential rebuild season.