Series Details
Dates: Thursday, March 29th – Saturday, March 31st
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (21-5, 1-2)
Bad Guys: West Virginia Mountaineers (9-12, 0-3)
Location: Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park | Lubbock, Texas
Game Notes: Preview | PDF
TV/Stream: FSSW (Thursday); FS1 (Friday); FSSW+ (Saturday)
Radio/Stream: Broadcast Affiliates
Live Stats: SideArm Stats
Lots of your pointed out that my comment earlier this week about Northeastern not necessarily being a quality opponent and Northeastern’s quality play against other opponents, but not necessarily good play against Texas Tech. I guess I was basing my comment on the final scores against Texas Tech and, based on those, it didn’t seem like these were quality wins. Maybe I’m somewhat holding back a bit until Texas Tech grabs a series Big 12 win. But I’m the guy that always gets nervous about things even though it appear that things will be fine. And this is the second week in a row where I think we have a settled starting rotation with Martin, Kilian and McMillon. It was mentioned the other day that Ryan Shetter (Sorry for the confusion, I got the Shetter and Lanning mixed up. Apologies to all.) Erikson Lanning may be out for the year with an injury and the staff is seeking a medical redshirt. Bottom line, let’s at the very least get a series win and have a happy Easter.
I didn’t update the top 25 this week, for D1Baseball, Texas Tech moved up 1 spot to #9 and BaseballAmerica has Texas Tech at #11 overall.
News, News, News, News
A-J Media’s Carlos Silva, Jr. writes about the offense taking hold last week:
The bats continued to stay hot, though, as the Red Raiders combined for 56 runs toward a four-game sweep against Northeastern last weekend.
“Always funner when you can score some runs. Without a doubt,” Tadlock said. “We’ve got guys that are plenty capable (when) they get a good pitch to hit. … That was good to see and looking forward to getting into the cage (Wednesday) and getting to work.”
It is always funner.
Team Stats
| Texas Tech Red Raiders | West Virginia Mountaineers | |
|---|---|---|
| avg | .312 | .244 |
| slg% | .505 | .417 |
| ob% | .442 | .319 |
| ERA | 3.42 | 5.24 |
| Oavg | .204 | .271 |
| SO/9 | 9.43 | 7.86 |
| BB/9 | 5.03 | 4.64 |
| fld% | .980 | .961 |
Key Hitter Stats
| Key Texas Tech Hitters | avg | slg% | ob% | fld% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OF Grant Little | .392 | .660 | .492 | 1.000 |
| INF Cameron Warren | .383 | .605 | .505 | .995 |
| INF Gabe Holt | .385 | .558 | .496 | .966 |
| INF Josh Jung | .389 | .670 | .500 | .944 |
| OF Cody Farhat | .276 | .434 | .440 | .976 |
| INF Michael Davis | .326 | .573 | .417 | .965 |
| Key West Virginia Hitters | avg | slg% | ob% | fld% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF Kyle Gray | .290 | .623 | .363 | .960 |
| INF Andrew Zitel | .278 | .389 | .350 | .952 |
| OF Darius Hill | .256 | .444 | .269 | .982 |
| INF Marques Inman | .255 | .436 | .317 | .982 |
| INF Jimmy Galusky | .243 | .514 | .329 | .916 |
| C/3B Ivan Gonzalez | .234 | .273 | .277 | .983 |
Probable Starters
| Game | Texas Tech Starting Pitchers | West Virginia Starting Pitchers |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, March 29, @ 6:30 pm (FSSW) | RHP Davis Martin (4-1, 2.70) | RHP Isaiah Kearns (0-1, 4.66) |
| Friday, March 30, @ 6:30 pm (FS1) | RHP Caleb Kilian (2-1, 0.93) | RHP Alex Manoah (1-3, 3.86) |
| Saturday, March 31, @ 2:00 pm (FSSW+) | RHP John McMillon (4-0, 2.56) | RHP Kade Strowd (2-3, 3.67) |
Game Recaps:
Game 1 – Thursday, March 29th @ 6:30 p.m. (FSSW)
Final Score: West Virginia 1 (10-12, 1-3), Texas Tech 0 (21-6, 1-3)
Box Score: Recap | Box Score
Another gem wasted by Davis Martin (L, 4-2), who went 6 innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 run, on 2 walks and striking out 9, but the real story here is the lack of offense, which managed only 5 hits and left 8 men on base and was unable to plate any runs and now, this team is 1-3 in conference. This makes winning today and Saturday even more imperative. The top of the lineup was getting on base, but Josh Jung stranded 2, Michael Davis stranded 2 and Cam Warren stranded 3. Ty Harpenau came in and pitched the final 3 innings and was darn near perfect, not allowing a hit or a run, walking just 1 and striking out 2.
Game 2 – Friday, March 30th @ 6:30 p.m. (FS1)
Final Score: Texas Tech 4 (22-6, 2-3), West Virginia 1 (10-13, 1-4)
Box Score: Recap | Box Score
A sterling pitcing performance by Caleb Kilian and Ryan Shetter was the story of this one. Kilian (W, 3-1) went 6 innings, allowing just 2 hits, a run, walking 2 and striking out 4, while Sheeter (S, 1) was fan-freaking-tastic with 3 innings of 1-hit ball, no walks and striking out 4. the offense was just good enough. Braxton Fulford started at catcher and homered in the 3rd inning, he first of his career, while Michael Davis had a 2-run home run in the 4th inning and Grant Little had a fly-out that scored Gabe Holt in the 5th. Not a ton of runs, but I’ll take this win and hope that the bats get on track today.
Game 3 – Saturday, March 31st @ 2:00 p.m. (FSSW+)
Final Score: Texas Tech 8 (23-6, 3-3), West Virginia 5 (10-14, 1-5)
Box Score: Recap | Box Score
This was a 1-0 game with Texas Tech leading for most of the game, but the offense finally broke out in the 6th and 7th innings after falling behind 3-1. The 9th inning was a bit hairy, but I’ll take a win adn getting back to .500 for the team. John McMillon got the start and he really cruised through 4 innings, but had problems in the 5th and allowed 3 runs, all in the 5th. McMillon was really great through those first 4 innings, but that 5th started with a strikeout and then a walk and then things got messy from there. I was glad to see McMillon get out of the 5th. Dylan Dusek (W, 2-0) went 2.1 innings, allowing just a hit, a walk and striking out 3. Caleb Freeman pitched the 8th and allowed 2 runs, both earned, while Kurt Wilson and Ty Harpenau (S, 1) pitched hte 9th without incident other than a hit.
Grant Little (2-3, 2 RBI) led the offense with a 2-4un home run and Michael Davis (1-3, 3 RBI) had a 3-run homer. Nice to see Gabe Holt get on base at the top of the lineup, going 1-3 with 2 walks and Cody Farhat go 204 with an RBI.