In this morning’s stake, the baseball and softball teams both won their respective series and we have a handful of recruiting updates, including football, and men’s and women’s basketball.

Photo via Charles Henry @ Flickr.

Baseball Wins Game Three and Series.  Texas Tech and Tim Tadlock won their first Big 12 road series of the year, taking game three from Kansas State, 4-1.  I’ve updated the weekend baseball thread with recaps and links to all three games this weekend.  Up next is Abilene Christian in Midland on Tuesday.

Recruiting Update. Wreck’Em 24/7’s Michael LaBarre has his weekly recruiting update, including basketball and football. The item that I didn’t get to last week was the decommitment of Colin Wilder, the safety from Katy. If I had to guess here, I think David Gibbs has some very specific ideas as to the type of player he wants to recruit and that may be different than what Wilder has to offer. There were also a ton of 2016 offers given out.

Whitaker Building Team. LAJ’s Ryan Talbot talks to Lady Raiders head coach Candi Whitaker about how she’s building the program, with transfers, both last year and this year. An interesting note here is that women’s hoops is allowed 15 scholarship players, compared to 13 for the men. That’s something I didn’t know. Here’s a bit:

“I think players understand when someone is leading their team in scoring in the Big 12 that is legit,” Whitaker said. “They will have to trust us and … So much of that is them understanding where we are and the vision for.

“Yes, our numbers will be small next year and we won’t be as deep in some places, but we have help this next year in Dean and Sanders. And our returners have had the best spring since I have been here. They are excited and onboard.”

The Dean and Sanders referenced there are part of the 2015 class for Whitaker, Japreece Dean, the #78 overall recruit, and Zuriel Sanders, the #19 forward in the country last year. It’s a good article and gives you lots of insight as to how Whitaker is building the program.

Tubby Smith Visits Ebuka Izundu. This is somewhat of a big deal as Charlotte high school center Ebuka Izundu was given his release from a scholarship that he signed with Charlotte (the college) because Charlotte fired their head coach. Izundu is a 5-star center and Tubby Smith has already seen him twice. Izundu’s high school head coach said that Smith is doing whatever he can to sign Izundu:

“(Thursday) morning, I heard from Western Kentucky, Charlotte, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Temple, Rhode Island, Tulsa and Texas Tech,” McCain said. “(Texas Tech coach) Tubby Smith wants a visit here. He loves the big fella. He saw him play in Atlanta these past two weekends (with Izundu’s Charlotte ACES travel team) and wants to know what it will take for him to commit.

“Basically, everyone is telling me why their program is better than everybody else’s and what they have to offer. I just try to help him filter through what’s reality and what is somebody being a great salesman.”

Breakout Players. Fox Sports’ David Ubben is getting his mailbag-on and lists his break-out players:

Mike Mitchell, LB, Texas Tech: Speaking of high-impact transfers, Mitchell has lived up to the hype so far after sitting out 2014. The former five-star recruit transferred to Lubbock after a season at Ohio State to be closer to his father, who is ill. The Red Raiders need talent upgrades on defense, and Mitchell will provide it. He famously set a record in the SPARQ drills that measure power, speed, agility, quickness and reaction time. Between Mitchell and DT Breiden Fehoko, It’s been a long time since Tech has had this much raw defensive talent on campus.

Secondary Review. DMN’s Tommy Magelssen writes about the secondary and ends with this:

The addition of former wide receiver Polite-Bray offers more depth and another athletic option at corner, and newcomer Jamile Johnson could notch playing time right away. One thing to look for is how aggressive the secondary is, and if they take the right amount of risks Gibbs — who specializes in coaching the secondary — wants out of his group.

Softball Takes Series vs. Oklahoma State. Texas Tech run-ruled Oklahoma State, 9-1 yesterday, assuring themselves of a second series win in a row. Game 3 is today at noon.