Red Raider Hardball :: Texas Tech Drops Series to Longhorns

Texas Tech (12-14, 2-4) vs. Texas (17-6, 4-2)
Location: Dan Law Field : Lubbock, TX
Radio: Affiliates

Outfield:
LF - Michael Reed (Sr.); CF - Taylor Ashby (Sr.); RF - Barrett Barnes (Fr.)
Infield:
SS - Joey Kenworthy (Sr.)     2ND - Jamodrick McGruder (Fr.);
3RD - Bo Altobelli (Fr.)                                  1ST - Jeremy Mayo (So.)
C - Kevin Whitehead (So.)
DH - Scott LeJeune (So.)

*Click on the score for boxscore. Texas Tech series preview (pdf).

Recap: I don't think you need me to tell you that when your best pitcher, the one that pitched on Friday night, gave you four innings today of only 2 run ball (again errors failed this team), and that's still not enough. And it really wasn't just one member of the bullpen that was particularly bad, although Colt Farrar has the worst line. It's really about not being about to get people out. SP Chad Bettis (4.0 IP; 7 H; 5 R; 2 ER; 1 BB; 5 SO) wasn't great, but he was okay. Again, both errors were errors that were made in the 1st and 4th innings. Colt Farrar (0.2; 3 H; 5 ER; 3 BB; 0 SO) was the worst reliever of the bunch and Justin Cooper (0.2 IP; 0 H; 0 ER; 0 BB; 1 SO) was able to the two outs without giving up a run. The offense managed a bunch of hits, but couldn't turn those hits into runs on the board. RF Scott LeJeune (3-4; 2 RBI) and C Jeremy Mayo (3-5) each had 3 hits, just knock in any runs. 1B Barrett Barnes (2-5; 2 R; 1 RBI) hit his 5th home run of the year.

Head coach Dan Spencer says that this is still about pitching depth:

On the eight runs his team gave up in the sixth inning: "They had the big sixth. We were a little rough early, defensively. I told Jamodrick (McGruder) this, I thought he took an at-bat with him on the field, which I haven't seen him do before. That's part of being young and I don't think he'll do that again. Instead of getting off with one run, they get off with three in the fourth. I felt good because we were getting some swings and had some runners at those times that we would get the hit that we needed. We didn't get the big one. We scored a lot of ones. When they get three and we get one, that's a hard deal. We didn't do a great job with men in scoring position but I thought the at-bats were solid. Part of that is, we didn't get the thing done and the other part of it is, they pitched pretty good in those situations. Those guys are real guys. They run three Friday-night type guys at you then they ran their closer at you in a 13-run game to try and keep it where it was. Our kids did a good job of staying on the field and forcing another inning. You have to look at that part of it and then try and correct some of the things we didn't do right."

Game Recap: LAJ's George Watson has the recap:

The winner of the Big 12 Conference series between Texas Tech and No. 8 Texas essentially came down to quality pitching depth.

Tech has very little of it.

Texas has a wealth of it.

UT starter Brandon Workman held the Red Raiders to just three runs over five innings, and the Longhorns offense hammered Tech starter Chad Bettis and almost every reliever the Red Raiders used en route to a 17-5 series-clinching rout on Sunday at Dan Law Field.

And DT's Adam Coleman:

Friday night’s series-opening win against No. 10 Texas was perfect for Texas Tech baseball. The Red Raiders out-hit and out-pitched one of the top teams in the country.

But that was a distant memory by the end of Sunday’s game.

The Red Raiders (12-14, 2-4 in Big 12 Conference play) defeated the Longhorns 12-5 Friday at Dan Law Field in the first matchup of a three-game series. But those talented arms UT is known for pushed the Longhorns past Tech for the final two games of the series. Texas beat Tech 8-3 and 17-5 Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

"It is disappointing and I thought we had ourselves in a position (Saturday) with Bobby (Doran) to make some noise again," said Tech coach Dan Spencer. "We scored some runs early and we just got beat. (Sunday) the game got out of hand on us."