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Texas Tech Wednesday Morning Notes - We Expect To Keep Improving Edition

By Seth C

Double-T Nation News:

In no particular order, DTN's Top Five:

  1. Former Red Raider Chris Todd is one of two QB's in the running for the Auburn job.
  2. Is Jeff Capel leaving OU?
  3. Rush the Court asks if Duke was a success or failure.
  4. Style points for Keenan Jones of Hawaii - Fulmer Cup style.
  5. Footnote digitizes the Vietnam Memorial (hat-tip TechCrunch).

Texas Tech Football:

Smell that? Football is in the air. Starts at 3:30 p.m.

LAJ's Don Williams first spring article focuses on the running back position and the fact that Texas Tech has multiple options. Coach Leach says that the majority of the reps will go to just two guys:

"We're going to have to roll some guys through,'' Tech coach Mike Leach said. "We need to make the best decision we can on how to invest the reps. We do have four guys that we need to take a look at. We want to figure out who the two best guys are and channel the reps that way.''

Oh, and Shannon Woods isn't out of the picture:

"It think it's possible,'' he said. "We'll go out there and see how he plays.''

Snip

"He's been working pretty good,'' Leach said. "The reports I've been getting are pretty good, so we'll go out there and see what he's got to offer when we start practicing.''

FWST's Dwain Price previews the Red Raiders on the eve of spring practice. Here's Coach Leach on what should be expected:

"We've had two of the most exciting bowl games for two straight years," Leach said. "... And we expect to keep improving and that there will be more to come in the future."

Price also has his top three questions heading into the spring:

1. With 18 starters back, how do the Texas Tech Red Raiders guard against overconfidence? Much will definitely be expected after a 9-4 season capped with a Gator Bowl victory over Virginia. The maturity of those starters will go a long way toward determining whether Tech can finally reach the Big 12 Championship Game.

2. Who will replace Alex Trlica? The Red Raiders kicker, who set an NCAA record by converting all 233 of his extra points during his four-year career while finishing as Tech's second-leading all-time scorer with 377 points, is gone. But coach Mike Leach believes freshman Donnie Carona from Beaumont Kelly will be an adequate successor.

3. Will the defense hold up for the entire season? After being named the permanent defensive coordinator in January, Ruffin McNeill has a full off-season with his defense. If Tech's defense can match its high-powered offense, the Red Raiders could contend for the Big 12 title.

Texas Tech Baseball:

Date Texas Tech UC Riverside Result
Monday 03/24/08 @ 6:05 p.m. 5 (W: Zach Stewart, 1-0) 4 (L: Ryan Platt, 0-1) Boxscore
Tuesday 03/25/08 @ 2:00 p.m. 6 (L: Sam Janca, 1-1) 8 (W: Paul Applebee, 1-4) Boxscore

Coach Hays isn't happy. After a nice win on Monday, the Red Raiders lose to UC-Riverside 8-6, splitting the series. Starter Sam Janca only lasted 1.2 innings giving up 3 runs, 1 earned, walking 1 and striking out 2. Check out the top of the second inning:

UC-Riverside 2nd - Wible, A walked (3-2). Samuelson, M singled to left field (1-2); Wible, A advanced to second. Shultz, J singled to right center, RBI (0-1); Samuelson, M advanced to third; Wible, A scored. Dropped foul ball, E5. Pellegrino hit by pitch (3-1); Shultz, J advanced to second. Hairgrove, T struck out looking (0-2). Uhl, C reached on a fielder's choice, RBI (0-0); Pellegrino out at second 2b to ss; Shultz, J advanced to third; Samuelson, M scored, unearned. Kilcrease to p for Janca. Uhl, C stole second; Shultz, J stole home, unearned. Uhl, C advanced to third on a balk. Gonzales, J flied out to cf (3-2). 3 runs, 2 hits, 1 error, 1 LOB.

The rest of the bullpen gave up mixed results, with Robert Kilcrease giving up 4 hits and 3 runs in 3.0 innings, while Lorenzo Douglas gave up 4 hits and 1 run in 1.1 innings.

At the plate, Roger Kieschnick went 2-3, with his 11th home run of the year, also walking twice. Jason Seefeld went 2-5 with 2 RBI and a home run (3).

LAJ's George Watson has his game story from yesterday's loss, with this from Coach Hays:

"There were plenty of things we did good enough to win the game, but we didn't concentrate well enough at times and really hurt ourselves," Hays said. "We just played like well, we'll come through at the end' and we didn't take care of our business and got beat. We're not good enough to play without being intense and really being serious about what we're doing and thinking about and all the things it takes to play to win. I think we just thought we were going to pull a rabbit out of our hat, and we can't do that."

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