Texas Tech Red Raiders (12-6, 0-0)
| Date | Start Time | Texas Tech | Opponent | Result |
| 3.11.11 | 5:30 p.m. | John Neely W, 2-0 |
Iowa: Zach Kenyon L, 1-1 |
W, 9-7 |
| 3.12.11 | 5:00 p.m. | Jamen Parten L, 1-2 |
TAMU-CC: Todd Simko W, 2-2 |
L, 5-14 |
| 3.12.11 | 1:00 p.m. | Tre Masek W, 1-1 |
Iowa: Nick Brown L, 1-1 |
W, 6-4 |
| 3.13.11 | 1:00 p.m. | David Paiz W, 3-0 |
TAMU-CC: Trenton Irwin L, 0-1 |
W, 6-5 |
| 3.15.11 | 1:00 p.m. | Duke von Schamann W, 1-0 |
TAMU-CC: S. Hoelscher L, 0-1 |
W, 9-7 |
*Click on the score for boxscore.
The Red Raiders finished off their final homestand, 5 games against Iowa and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Iowa, the Texas Tech Invitational, going 4-1 in the series and conference play starts this Friday at Baylor. LAJ's George Watson wrapped up yesterday's series and it's the bullpen that's stuggling a bit:
In the last eight games, Tech’s bullpen has allowed 30 earned runs on 51 hits over 28 2/3 innings, giving them a 9.44 ERA. Tech is 4-4 in those eight games, but has won four of its last five despite the struggles."We’ve got to address that," Spencer said. "We’ve got to find someone in those places to be cleaner. You get a 5-0 lead and you can’t walk people and give up two or three hits in an inning or two or three runs. I think its confidence and competitiveness. We’re not giving up runs in a lot of innings but we keep giving up two or three at a time."
The Red Raiders now sit at 12-6 for the year and 3 of those losses happened against TCU where the Red Raiders were swept. I've linked the boxscore for each game above, but below my thoughts are the official site recaps of each game. As far as my general thoughts on the 5 game series:
- Danie Coulombe is going to be a weekend starter as he's most likely the most consistent starting pitcher for Texas Tech. In his last start against Iowa, he had 6 strikeouts to 1 walk. That's winning baseball as far as I'm concerned.
- John Neely is your closer, earning 1 save and 1 win during the series and pitched in 3 of the 5 games. Neely did have a rough go at yesterday, pitching 2.0 innings, giving up 3 hits and 2 runs. He's got to be better than that and he had some leeway yesterday, but you would prefer that your closer shut down the opposing team.
- True Trey Masek started his first game of the year and went out and pitched 7.2 innings, giving up 3 hits, 2 ER, striking out 5 and walking 2. It wouldn't surprise me that Masek is one of your weekend starters. But he's not the only true freshman making an impact (see below)>
- Jamen Parten, Robbie Kilcrease and David Paiz are most likely your other best pitchers. The bullpen is struggling a bit and I don't have time to get into the all of the bullpen pitchers, but this is a problem with a lot of college teams. I'll also say that yesterday's winner, Duke von Schamann, is just getting into the swing of things after being out most of the non-conference.
- SS Kelby Tomlinson may have been the big winner for the series. It wouldn't surprise me to see Tomlinson to be all-conference by the end of the year. He's hitting .391/.453/.500 for the year and leading the team with 19 RBI.
- 1B Stephen Hagen is also starting to make some waves. He didn't play hardly at all last year, but he's hitting .357/.536/.486, with 2 homeruns, 2 doubles and has driven in 16.
- 3B Reid Redman had a game-winning single in the series and for the year he's hitting .328/.443/.406.
- The interesting thing about the 3 hitters above is that they're all transfers or players who didn't play much at all last year. Last year's star, CF Barrett Barnes, is struggling a bit at the plate, .275/.507/.412, and there's still plenty of time for him to come around.
Game 1 | W, Iowa, 9-7 |||| Game 2 | L, TAMU-CC, 5-14 |||| Game 3 | W, Iowa, 6-4 ||||
Game 4 | W, TAMU-CC, 6-5 |||| Game 5 | W, TAMU-CC, 9-7