clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Texas Tech Monday Morning Notes - Minimize the Damage Edition

By Seth C

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Double-T Nation News:

In no particular order, DTN's Top Six:

  1. Via BON, a pretty interesting situation between the UT athletic department and the student newspaper, the Daily Texan.
  2. SMQ says Michael Lewis created a monster -- yarr.
  3. An even better graph of average rank of college football pre-season polls.
  4. Inspiring picture of NYC circa 1941.
  5. Craftsman 1,470 piece tool set, only $8,600.
  6. Gate 21 takes a look at the situation between the Bengals and a fan blog (this is really worth your time).

Texas Tech Football:

A couple of post-spring football articles this morning. DMN has it's Spring Football Wrapup and Rivals.com's Olin Buchanan has his Big 12 Spring Review. Since I find the problems more interesting, here's the problem per the DMN:

Who will start at running back? Four players vied for the role in the spring, and nothing was decided. All four - senior Shannon Woods of McKinney North, junior Kobey Lewis and sophomores Aaron Crawford and Baron Batch - will compete for playing time in the fall. Woods, who led the Big 12 in all-purpose yards as a sophomore, is the most experienced. Woods, the best pass blocker, started the first eight games before landing in Leach's doghouse. Crawford started the final five games. Lewis was a backup. Batch redshirted last year.

And per Rivals.com:

Although the defense looks good overall, the cornerback spot opposite Jamar Wall remains a point of concern. Laron Moore and Brent Nickerson appear to be the top contenders for that job.

Texas Tech picked up two commitments, one on Friday and one last night. Friday the Red Raiders picked up their 8th commitment from Aaron Fisher, a 6-3/175 wide receiver from Fossil Ridge High School in Keller, Texas. There's no official link, but you can find Fisher's name on both RaiderPower and RedRaiderSports commitment lists along with Rivals and Scout profiles. I also found Fisher's stats from last year where he caught 46 passes for 832 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Last night, the Red Raiders received their 9th commitment from Dion Chidozie, a 6-1/190 linebacker from Bishop Lynch (free RRS article). Here's your Rivals and Scout profiles. You'll note the discrepency between the Rivals and Scout profiles (6-1/190 v. 5-11/175). Although I did dig up the results of the Dallas Nike Combine where Chidozie had a 32.8" vertical jump, but also seemed to weigh in at 6-0.5/176, and that was March of this year. Here's Chidozie:

"The coaches were just very welcoming, they told me that I was now a part of the Red Raider family," he said. "It's close to home, my parents liked it, and it's a huge Texas football school, so I'm very happy. It's one of the big three here in Texas, you know, them, Texas, and Texas A&M are the big schools here, so just being considered by Tech is an honor to me."

You'll also note that I've finally gotten around to doing the 2009 Football Recruiting Board.

Texas Tech Baseball:

Date Texas Tech Oklahoma State Result
Fri. 05/09/08 @ 6:35 p.m. 2 (L: James Leverton, 1-3) 3 (W: Robbie Weinhardt, 5-0) Boxscore
Sat. 05/10/08 @ 2:00 p.m. 3 (L: Chad Bettis, 4-4) 13 (W: Tyler Lyons, 9-2) Boxscore
Sun. 05/11/08 @ 1:00 p.m. 12 (W: James Leverton, 2-3) 10 (L: Jordy Mercer, 0-2) Boxscore

It's only one win out the series, but it's better than no wins in a series. The Red Raiders were able to come back from an 8-0 deficit to beat the OSU Cowboys 12-10. Karns struggled again, going only 3.2 innings and giving up 10 hits, 8 runs, all earned, walking 3 and striking out 3. Brian Cloud came in and pitched 4.0 solid innings of relief, giving up 4 hits, 1 run, 1 earned, walking none and striking out 3. James Leverton pitched the final 1.1 innings for the win, giving up 2 hits, 1 run, walking and striking out none.

The Red Raiders got production up and down the lineup. Willie Rueda continues to hit the ball, but today he drove in runs to boot, going 3-6 with 4 RBI. Joey Kenworthy and Chris Richburg had 3 hits a piece, while Roger Kieschnick went 2-5 with 2 RBI and his 14th home run of the season. Chris Hall also went 3-3 with 4 RBI.

LAJ's George Watson is back with a game recap. Per Watson, the Red Raiders must sweep Baylor, along with some help from OSU, to make the Big 12 Tournament.

Here's Cloud:

"I knew we had it in us and I just had to come out and take care of business," Cloud said. "It was frustrating giving up that double when I came in to score two runs. But I got some great plays from my defense and I was able to minimize the damage, keep us in the game and the batters came through."

More From Viva The Matadors