Last week, we discussed the struggling pitching staff being carried by what may be the best offense Tech baseball has ever seen. Leading up to the New Mexico mid-week series, Tech had being averaging 13+ runs per game over the previous 20 games. Going into what may be the most difficult stretch of their schedule and Davis Martin looking more and more likely to be post-season only, how would Tech’s staff hold up?
The Evidence
Baseball isn’t football or basketball in the sense that one game means a ton for the program. When Tech was shutout by Texas A&M earlier in the season, we said “that game doesn’t mean anything, it’s just one”. The following week when Tech thumped then Top 10 Arizona 13-1, it likewise didn’t mean much of anything. It’s great hype and excitement to say we beat a Top 10 team, but in baseball reality, one game here and there, especially with opposite results, don’t create a trend.
The trend the first half (pre-Davis injury) was an explosive offense and solid pitching, giving up just 3.1 runs per game. Not ERA. Just the average runs allowed per game. That’s stellar at any level. Since the Davis injury, Tech has allowed and average of 4.6 runs per game and it wouldn’t get any better vs. New Mexico. Tech was destroyed 16-5 in the opener. If you weren’t pushing the panic button looking at the trend, you at least flipped up the protective glass cover in anticipation.
Now the great thing about trends, is they can be reversed. Just not a single game. If Tech had lost 8 of their last 9, but won the 10th game by a wide margin, that doesn’t necessarily offset the trend we saw in the previous 9 games. Hence the 2nd game of the series, where Tech took out some frustration and won 27-15. Great win for the offense and really speaking to the possible “greatest offense in program history” headline, but the trend seers are staring at the 15 runs given up. In two games, Tech had given up 31 runs while scoring 32 runs. But it’s just one game.
Going into the huge TCU series this past weekend, it was make or break for Tech. Losing the opener Friday didn’t help and Tech found itself dropping 4 of its last 6 games. Losing 2-1 in the bottom of the 3rd, apparently the Good Lord had seen enough. The heaven’s opened up and the game was suspended. On Sunday when play resumed, Tech took game 2 from TCU and then proceeded to run-rule TCU in game 3, securing the series victory. (One can’t help to think about what this series would have looked like if play had not been suspended due to weather).
The opener in Columbus against Ohio State was cancelled and Tech will play just one game tomorrow before going over to Morgantown to play the Mountaineers.
The Schedule
With Tech in dire straights entering Saturday, their situation looked even more dismal with what was going on in Morgantown between the West Virginia and the Sooners. Possibly for the first time ever, Tech were cheering for the Sooners and while Tech handled their business, another miracle took place as Oklahoma took the final two games from West Virginia. That put the Mountaineers in 3rd place behind Tech where the Red Raiders sit just one game back of TCU.
Tech needs to continue its recent surge and take the series in Morgantown to have a real shot at the Big 12 championship.
@ Ohio State (17-26, 5-9)
@ West Virginia (25-17, 10-8)
@ West Virginia
@ West Virginia
vs Kansas (22-22, 9-9)
vs Kansas
vs Kansas
Rankings
1. Texas Tech
2. West Virginia
3. TCU
4. Texas
5. Kansas
6. Oklahoma
7. Baylor
8. Oklahoma St.
9. Kansas St
It’s all coming down to the last two weekends. Can TCU hang on? Can Tech overtake? Can West Virginia or Oklahoma come out of nowhere to steal the regular season championship? Going to be exciting for sure.
We’ll see how it plays out this week. Be sure to tune into The Air Raid Podcast for more baseball coverage this Friday and please leave any questions or comments below and we’ll answer them on the pod.
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