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Texas Tech Saturday Morning Baseball Notes - A Playoff Deal Edition

By Seth C

Texas Tech Baseball:

Date Texas Tech Baylor Result
Fri. 05/16/08 @ 6:05 p.m. 7 (W: Zach Stewart, 3-2) 4 (L: Shawn Tolleson, 5-4) Boxscore
Sat. 05/17/08 @ 2:00 p.m. Chad Bettis (4-4, 5.95) Craig Fritch (3-3, 3.72) Boxscore
Sun. 05/18/08 @ 1:00 p.m. Nate Karns (2-6, 9.00) TBA Boxscore

So far so good. Texas Tech beat Baylor 7-4 on Friday night, and OSU helped out as well, beating OU in their home opener (we need for OSU to win 2 of 3 and Texas Tech needs to sweep).

As with most things in baseball, it all starts with pitching, and Zach Stewart was awfully good last night, going 8.0 innings, 4 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks and striking out 7. James Leverton pitched 0.2 innings, giving up 2 hits, and 1 run, while Brian Cloud closed out the game, getting that final out with a strikeout.

Roger Kieschnick led the oway offensively going 2-5, both hits were home runs for his 15th and 16th home runs of the year and 3 RBI for the day. And don't forget about Willie Rueda who is still is on an incredible streak, going 2-5 and scoring a run. Monk Kreder also went 1-3 with 2 RBI and Chris Richburg and Jason Seefeld each had an RBI.

LAJ's George Watson has the game recap and notes that Stewart, from the 2nd inning forward, retired 10 batters in a row and 20 of the final 23. That's impressive, and here's Stewart:

"I was just trying to throw strikes," said Stewart, who improved to 3-2 on the year. "Against OU, I got down (in the count) a lot and that got me in trouble. I did that last week a little and I knew if I just threw strikes they would put it in play and the defense would work behind me, and the offense really showed up, so that made it easier. I just tried to stay low in the zone and ahead in the count."

And Hays on last night's game:

"This is a playoff deal for us," head coach Larry Hays said. "We had to approach it that way, that there is no tomorrow, and we did that (Friday). Anything you say will work if the pitchers go out and throw like that. (Stewart) had an outstanding performance from the start and really made only one bad pitch all night."

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