Gameday Open Thread - (1) Texas Tech vs. (3) West Virginia

After winning their 1st opening round game of the Big 12 conference tournament in over a decade, Tech is looking to make a push for the title with a matchup against the Mountaineers. 4 teams will be facing elimination in the losers bracket, and it is great that Tech is not one of them. A win today would push the Red Raiders to the Division 1 title game on Saturday morning and a day off tomorrow.

First Pitch: 4:00pm, CST, however if a prior game lasts longer than the allotted 3.5 hours, this may change

How to Watch: Fox Sports Southwest Plus will be carrying the game again, or you can stream the game online through Fox Sports Go. 97.3 FM in Lubbock will have the radio stream.

Preview: Having just played West Virginia last weekend, the 2 teams will be somewhat familiar with each other and know what to expect from the other. Not much has changed since the preview of the Mountaineers from a week ago, they went 1-2 against us, and then beat Oklahoma yesterday in the tournament by a score of 6-0. Starter Michael Grove, who started the 1st game in the series against Tech, only lasted 6 pitches against Oklahoma due to a strange knee injury he sustained going after a bunt. Ross Vance came out of the bullpen and pitched the rest of the game, saving the majority of the pen for the rest of the tournament.

I would expect Chad Donato to start for them today against the Red Raiders, a strong strikeout pitcher, against Davis Martin for Tech. Donato went 6 innings in game 2 of the series last weekend, with 10 strikeouts and 5 innings where he only faced 3 batters. We were able to get to him in the 7th and he took the loss, so I expect a stronger performance today, with that loss still fresh in his mind. The Mountaineers will attempt to play small ball against us again, trying to get batters on base early and advance them on infield hits or sacrifice plays. The leadoff batter for both teams will be very important, as the pitchers will look to not get behind early in the inning. Spotting West Virginia a 5-1 lead like we did against Kansas St will be a bad idea as it will be much harder to come back against the Mountaineers.

Rules: As always, abide by the rules and guidelines of Viva the Matadors and have fun as we cheer our boys on to another Big 12 victory.

Yesterday's Big 12 Results

#4 West Virginia 6, #5 Oklahoma 0

#1 Texas Tech 8, #8 Kansas State 5

#3 TCU 12, #6 Baylor 5

#2 Oklahoma State 10, #7 Texas 4

Todays' Games

Oklahoma 13, Kansas State 7 (Kansas State eliminated)

Baylor 3, Texas 15 (Baylor eliminated)

4:45pm - West Virginia vs Texas Tech

7:30pm - TCU vs Oklahoma St