Red Raider Hardball: Wrapping Up An Amazing Season

Amazing. Texas Tech lost to Ole Miss yesterday afternoon, 2-1.  You can read the final box score and recap if you like.

Texas Tech made it to the College World Series and lost two games by one run in each game.  A couple of plays here and there and Texas Tech could have advanced. Don't be disappointed in this team, maybe the ultimate outcome because it was so close, but I hope everyone knows how good this team actually was and can appreciate what they did, even if they feel a bit short of the ultimate goal.

Q. Tim, what does it do for your program to make a College World Series trip like this? And for the players, what was it like to experience the College World Series?
COACH TADLOCK: Well, it's what we all shoot for. I mean, it's what we -- you shoot for getting here. At the same time, we're all competitors. We line up to play and we want to win. So right now it's kind of an unusual feeling for me, because we did do something. I mean, these guys will hold forever. At the same time, we're going to lay our head down every night and wake up every morning trying to get back.

Blayne Beal penned a post about how this is just the beginning and it is true, especially since Tadlock is in year two (maybe three since he helped recruit when Dan Spencer was the head coach) of the rebuilding project that is Texas Tech baseball.

The funny thing is that I'm over yesterday's loss. Not sad or disappointed really at all. I'm actually quite proud about where this team was able to step. This is going to be a young team that could be even better next year. The pitching is young and deep and the offense that was tough to come by this year will be a year older and more mature.  It's going to happen because Tadlock won't let it happen any other way.

The Shift. Pretty cool how head coach Tim Tadlock is in the New York Times regarding how he implements the defensive shift, that helped keep Texas Tech this year:

Few college coaches position their fielders as boldly as Tadlock, the newly named winner of the Skip Bertman award as national coach of the year by the National College Baseball Hall of Fame.

"I don't think it helped us get here," Tadlock said. A moment later, he reconsidered. "I think it helped our body of work, which would mean it helped us get here, right?"

Tadlock is a rarity in college baseball, a coach willing to trust 21- and 22-year-olds to pitch to a defense. The radical shifting that has become popular in the major leagues remains rare in college baseball because most pitchers lack major league command, or the ability to throw the ball to an intended spot so the batter hits it where the defenders are positioned.

Wrapping Things Up.  If you want to ready any of the LAJ articles, although I think you can find pretty much all of the information linked above, here goes:

* Texas Tech eliminated from College World Series in loss to Ole Miss | Red Raiders
* Talbot: Despite elimination from College World Series, things are looking up for Tech baseball | Red Raiders
* Texas Tech baseball: 3 Things We're Talking About | Red Raiders
* Texas Tech baseball notebook: Red Raiders had many chances to score, overcome miscues | Red Raiders