Game Details:
Dates: Wednesday, May 25th
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (40-14, 19-5)
Bad Guys: Kansas State Wildcats (26-29, 8-16)
Location: Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Game Notes: Preview | PDF
TV/Stream: FOX College Sports
Radio/Stream: Broadcast Affiliates
This is game one of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, being played in Oklahoma City. All things seem to point towards Texas Tech receiving a national bid regardless of what happens in OKC. It would be nice to win a few games, but I’d be fine with this team gearing up for what’s to come in the NCAA Tournament. The funny thing though is that there’s no way in heck that Tim Tadlock would think of it that way. Which is why Tadlock didn’t pitch Ty Damron on Sunday against West Virginia. He wants to win. And Tadlock had Ty Harpenau starting when the notes were released before the WVU series started, which means that Tadlock knew he wanted Damron starting this game, but he wanted to win that West Virginia series as well. Kansas State finished 8th overall in the Big 12 (only the top 8 teams make the Big 12 Championship). Let’s do this.
Stats
| Avg | .295 | .287 |
| OBP | .399 | .373 |
| SLG | .455 | .405 |
| ERA | 4.01 | 4.86 |
| OAvg | .259 | .274 |
| SO/9 | 6.77 | 7.94 |
| BB/9 | 3.87 | 3.60 |
| FLD% | .976 | .969 |
Probable Starters:
Game 1: Wednesday, May 24th @ 12:30 pm
Texas Tech Starting Pitcher: LHP Ty Damron (4-1, 5.56)
Kansas State Starting Pitcher: RHP Corey Fischer (2-4, 5.06)
Final Score & Box Score: Texas Tech 8, Kansas State 5 (recap | box score)
Texas Tech found themselves down 5-1 before even getting on the board, but this offense is incredibly good at plating runs and they did that again. Texas Tech managed 17 hits, yes, 17 hits, led by Stephen Smith (3-4, scoring 2 runs), Tyler Floyd (3-5, scoring 2 runs), tyler Neslony (3-5, scoring 2 runs and an RBI), Hunter Hargrove (2-4, 3 RBI), Cory Raley (2-4, 2 RBI) and Eric Gutierrez (1-3, 2 RBI). Ty Damron got the start and lasted 4.0 innings, allowing 5 hits, 5 runs, walking 2 and striking out 5. But the bullpen was fantastic, Parker Mushinski, Robert Dugger, Dalton Brown and Hayden Howard collectively only allowed 1 hit for the rest of the way. Dugger got the win and Hayden earned the save.