Texas Tech Baseball - Regional Preview

Game Schedule

The games kick off Friday at 2:00 pm with #1 Tech hosting #4 Fairfield. The format is just like the Big 12 tournament, double elimination, with all games wrapping up no later than Monday June 6th (weather permitting).

Game 1: #1 Texas Tech vs #4 Fairfield, Friday June 3rd 2:00 pm

Game 2: #2 Dallas Baptist vs #3 New Mexico, Friday June 3rd 6:00 pm

The full bracket and schedule can be found here and we will update the schedule as teams win and lose.

#2 Dallas Baptist

The Patriots of Dallas Baptist just won the Missouri Valley Conference tournament over Missouri State in a 4-3 12 inning game, where the winning run was scored on a bases loaded wild pitch. DBU knocked off Illinois St, Southern Illinois, Evansville, and then Missouri St to go a perfect 4-0 in the tournament, clinching the automatic qualifying bid for the NCAA tournament. The Patriots placed 4 members on the MVC All-Tournament team, shortstop Cameron Duzenack, catcher Matt Duce, utility man Darick Hall, and pitcher Colin Poche. DBU currently has a record of 41-17, going 15-5 in the MVC. This season they did play some Big 12 teams, beating TCU and Baylor. As a team they are batting .288 and have hit 56 home runs, led by Darick Hall with 18. In one game at New Mexico, they won 33-8, in a game that Hall had 2 home runs, 6 RBI's and pitched 5 innings for the win. Pitcher Colin Poche leads starting pitchers with a 2.02 ERA in 15 starts this season, going 9-0 while reliever Seth Elledge has gone 1-1 in 22 appearances with an ERA of only 1.35.As a staff, DBU has a 3.66 ERA, holding opponents to a .249 batting average.

#3 New Mexico

The Lobos of New Mexico are a string offensive team, high in the ranks in many hitting categories. As a team, they have the 11th highest batting average in division 1 baseball, are 5th in total hits, 15th in home runs, and 11th in total runs scored, averaging over 7.5 per game. The Lobos went 38-21 this year, winning the Mountain West Conference, going 3-0 in the tournament with wins over Air Force and Nevada twice, including run-ruling the Wolfpack 14-4 in the championship. This was the Lobos 6th Mountain West title since 2011 and 7th overall. Red Raider fans are familiar with the sluggers out of Albuquerque, as the 2 teams have become regular non conference opponents lately, and may have an advantage over the other visiting teams as they have gotten to know the Rip. As a team, UNM is batting .319, with 7 players hitting over .300. Sophomore infielder Carl Stajduhar leads the team with 18 home runs and 66 RBi's, while junior infielder Chris DeVito has 16 home runs and 62 RBI's. Colton Thomson leads starting pitchers with a 3.43 ERA and 7-2 record while reliever Alex Estrella is 2-2 with a 2.70 ERA in 24 appearances.

#4 Fairfield

Fairfield is the relatively unknown team in this regional, coming all the way from Connecticut. The Stags just won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, punching a ticket to their 1st ever NCAA tournament appearance. In their conference tournament they knocked off Manhattan, Canisius, and Sienna to win the title. In the championship game against Sienna, they won 18-2, setting MAAC records for runs scored and margin of victory in the title game. The Stags went 32-24 this year, with a team batting average of .281. Just like the other 3 teams in the regional, Fairfield can knock the ball around and score some runs. Jake Salpietro is currently hitting .349 and leads the team in total bases with 125, RBI's with 42, and home runs with 10. Pitcher John Signore leads the team with a 2.64 ERA, going 3-2 in 11 starts. As a team, the staff has a 4.14 ERA, holding opponents to a .219 batting average and throwing 5 complete games.