This is your weekend thread. Yoyo has a one-day tournament in Irving on Saturday so I’ll be out of pocket pretty much the entire day. Enjoy your Easter holiday!

Texas Tech baseball will host North Dakota State today and a double-header on Saturday. As always, check in with Red Raider Dugout for all updates. All games will be broadcast on ESPN+.

• Friday, April 7th @ 2:00 p.m.: RHP Brendan Girton (2-0, 4.83 ERA) vs. RHP Cade Feeney (2-3, 5.91 ERA)
• Saturday, April 8 @ 2:00 p.m.(DH1): LHP Mason Molina (2-2, 4.37 ERA) vs. RHP Tristen Roehrich (2-4, 4.82 ERA)
• Saturday, April 8 30-45 minutes after (DH2): RHP Trendan Parish (1-0, 4.97 ERA) vs. RHP Parker Puetz (0-0, 3.68 ERA)

Offensive line coach Stephen Hamby talked to the media today. If you can’t listen, Red Raider Sports’ Jarrett Ramirez summarized the media session, which also included Rusty Staats, Cole Spencer, and Dennis Wilburn. Here’s a bit of it from Hamby:

On if the team will have 10 players comfortable with getting game reps:

“I hope so, because that’s a healthy offensive line at the Power Five level. Coming from here, playing in here, and then going to a Group of Five and then coming back here, you’re not always going to have 10. You should have 10 that can play at all times, so that’s the biggest thing. It’s the ‘Next man up’ where if somebody does go down, there is no blinking and it’s not ‘Oh let’s change the schematic of the whole offense.’ It’s ‘You should be able to do that and you’ve been waiting for this time.’”

CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah reported on the recruiting budges by conference and under year 1 of Joey McGuire, the recruiting budge went from an average of $670,002 from 2017 through 2022 to actual spending of $930,264 in 2022, which is 4th behind Oklahoma, Texas (both spending over $2 million), and West Virginia which spent $971,286. Texas Tech, then Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State, who only spent $455,689 (lowest in Power 5). Every other program spent at least $800k. If you’re curious who spent the most? It’s Georgia with over $4 million spent in 2022.

I sort of let the whole conference realignment situation fade a bit for me, but CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd wrote that the Pac-12 is unlikely to reach a media rights deal with more than 50% of their games on linear TV (i.e. not just streaming, but over the air). The Athletic essentially confirmed that the Pac-12 is in negotiations with the CW, which is what the Dodd article says is an option:

The Pac-12 is talking with The CW as its TV deal negotiations extend into late spring or early summer.

Story with @slmandel on what we’re hearing: https://t.co/EHfvRfJcJN

— Max Olson (@max_olson) April 7, 2023