Series Details:

Dates: Friday, March 18th – Sunday, March 20th
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (10-6, 0-0)
Bad Guys: Baylor Bears (7-9, 0-0)
Location: Baylor Ballpark | Waco, Texas
Game Notes: Preview | PDF
TV/Stream: Friday – FOX Sports Southwest | Saturday – FOX College Sports | Sunday – FOX Sports Southwest Plus
Radio/Stream: Broadcast Affiliates

Baylor has had a bit of a rough go at it under first year head coach Steve Rodriguez, who was the previous head coach at Pepperdine for 11 years. Baylor’s only series win is against Stony Brook, at home, but has lost series to Houston, Washington and split with San Diego.

Meanwhile, for Texas Tech, they start three freshmen again (four were slated to start last weekend against Cal, but with only two games played, only two started) and this is a strange spot for Ryan Moseley and Ty Damron, who were previously two of the three weekend starters. Instead, those two combined to finish up the UT Arlington game on Wedneday to get the win there. This is a series that Texas Tech needs to win two out of three at the least. Baylor isn’t a good program at this point (it’s Rodriguez’s first year, so it’s understandable) and Texas Tech I haven’t quite figured out if Texas Tech is a .500 ballclub or if they’re pretty good. The fact that they split Cal last weekend is a good indication, but that was such a small sample size.

Texas Tech is the 4th best hitting team in the Big 12 at .280, while Baylor is 8th overall, at .257. Texas Tech is just out of the top half of team ERA at 6th overall, but Baylor is 8th and there is nearly a two run difference in those two spots. And one more stat, that’s usually important in the major leagues, is run differential. I’ve never paid much attention to it in college, especially non-conference because the competition can be different from team to team, but as of now, Texas Tech’s run differential is +29 (scored 29 more runs than they have allowed) and Baylor’s is -7.

Stats

Probable Starters:

Game 1: Friday, March 18th @ 2:00 pm
Texas Tech Starting Pitcher: RHP Davis Martin (1-0, 3.07)
Baylor Starting Pitcher: LHP Daniel Castano (2-1, 4.37)
Final Score & Box Score: Texas Tech 5, Baylor 0 (Recap | Box Score)

Heck yes! Davis Martin got the win and pitched incredibly well, going 6 innings, allowing just 2 hits, walking 2 and striking out 4. Martin threw 50 of his 81 pitches for strikes, which is just fantastic. Robert Dugger and Ryan Shetter pitched in relief, Dugger going 2 innings, giving up 4 hits and striking out 2 while Shetter pitched the final frame, walking 1 and striking out 1.

Eric Gutierrez was 3 for 5 day, but Tanner Gardner is the guy who is on fire (he leads the Big 12 in hitting) who went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI had two key RBI hits, the first one putting the first run on the board. Tyler Neslony was 1 for 5 driving in 2 runs and Cory Raley was 1 for 3 with an RBI and scoring 2 runs.

Game 2: Saturday, March 19th @ 3:00 pm
Texas Tech Starting Pitcher: LHP Steven Gingery (1-1, 6.75)
Baylor Starting Pitcher: RHP Drew Tolson (1-1, 4.94)
Final Score & Box Score: Baylor 4, Texas Tech 3 (Recap | Box Score)

If it’s not obvious to everyone at this point, something is amiss with Ryan Moseley. Freshman Steven Gingery started and pitched 5 innings, giving up just 2 hits and 3 walks without giving up a run. Then, in comes Moseley to pitch the 6th and 7th innings, and Moseley gives up 3 runs in the 7th, a messy 7th. Jacob Patterson ended up giving up the final run, but Mosley actually started the 8th, giving up a walk to start the inning and Baylor manufactured the winning run. Texas Tech scored 2 runs in the 4th and a run in the 7th inning, but the offense itself only managed 8 hits on the day. The offense really needs to carry this team.

Game 3: Sunday, March 20th @ 1:00 pm
Texas Tech Starting Pitcher: RHP Ty Harpenau (0-0, 3.29)
Baylor Starting Pitcher: RHP Nick Lewis (0-2, 6.23)
Final Score & Box Score: Texas Tech 6, Baylor 5 (Recap | Box Score)

Another game where it looked like Texas Tech was crusing along and here comes Baylor late in the game. This time, Texas Tech was able to hold off the Bears. Ty Harpenau got the start, but only lasted 2.1 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits. In comes Hayden Howard, who was pretty terrific in relief and earned the win, going 5.1 innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 runs, only 1 earned while walking none and striking out 3. Howard is a big left-hander from Seward C.C. and he’s been pretty good thus far. Look for him to steal a weekend spot if he continues that pace. Robert Dugger got the final out, earning the save, his 3rd of the year.

Texas Tech struck early in the second inning. Tyler Floyd tripled in the 2nd, scoring Cody Farhat, Trey Ochoa and Tyler Floyd. Stephen Smith launched his 3rd home run of the year while going 4 for 5 on the day with 2 RBI. Tanner Gardner was 3 for 5 on the day, scoring a run.