Baseball Preview - No. 6 Texas Tech vs No. 9 Arizona

Fresh off a weekend of SEC competition, the Red Raider baseball team gets to take on a top-10 PAC-12 team at home.

Tech last faced Arizona in 2013 in Tuscon, splitting the two-game series with what was a No. 16 ranked team. Last season, the Wildcats went 49-23, with a 17-15 conference record, good enough for 4th in the PAC-12. But the Wildcats did their damage in the postseason. They won the Louisiana-Lafayette regional, beating Sam Houston St twice and going 2-1 against a good Ragin’ Cajun team.

Moving on to Starkville for the Supers, they took both games from No. 4 Ole Miss, advancing to Omaha, ultimately losing to Coastal Carolina in the championship, although they did win the first game, before losing the next two. After spending most of the season unranked, they ended up as the unanimous No. 2 team in the country.

This season, they swept both Eastern Kentucky and McNeese State at home before playing in a tournament in Frisco this past weekend. They took games over Arkansas and Oklahoma State before losing their first game of the season against Nebraska on Sunday. Just like the Red Raiders, Arizona rose in the rankings, up five spots from No. 14 to No. 9.

Arizona has the 3rd best batting average and the 3rd most doubles in the nation. Two of their pitchers have combined for no earned runs through 32 innings pitched: junior reliever Cameron Ming, and senior starter JC Cloney. Cloney pitched 7.2 innings on Friday, so the Red Raiders should get a break from him, but Cameron threw just 2.1 on Friday and Saturday and the Red Raiders could see him in a relief role.

This is a big series for Tech, especially after beating LSU on Sunday, as they prepare for Big 12 play to start in fewer than two weeks. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game is scheduled to be televised by FSSW+.