Monday Morning Matador: Rankings and records and the yodel kid

I keep hitting the snooze button but the Longhorn fans keep haunting my dreams! Not really, I just put down my phone and go do something with my day. Let’s take a look at some good, bad and intriguing that has been going on this past week.

Both Texas Tech track and field teams rank in the top 15

The men’s and women’s track and field teams have been grinding hard this past week after an impressive showing at the Corky/Crofoot shootout. The victories for the men over No. 2 Nebraska, No. 18 Wichita State and Kansas State in the final weekend of dual meet season garnered them a jump from No. 3 to first place in the rankings. Last year the Red Raiders closed out the season at No. 2. The women also made a substantial jump, finishing No. 11 after being ranked No. 22 the previous week. Up next Texas Tech travels to Waco, Texas, for the 2018 Big 12 Outdoor Championships (May 10-13).

Men’s baseball loses series to Texas in final game

The Red Raiders played host to the Longhorns this weekend for more Big 12 baseball action, but Texas Tech came up wanting. The first match got off to a rocky start with a six-run third inning by the Longhorns that was, despite a pair of multi-run innings by the Raiders, too difficult to overcome. Tech finished Friday night with six runs on 12 hits, ending the game (ironically) 12-6 Longhorns. The second game of the match-up was almost a mirrored image. In Saturday’s bout Texas Tech recorded 16 runs on 13 hits, scoring in seven-straight innings. Four Tech batters had multi-hit performances, with junior Cody Farhat matching his career-high of four hits (garnering three RBI and two runs for himself). Mike Davis had a solo homer in the second, Josh Jung brought in Brian Klein on his two-run homer in the fifth and a handful of good at-bats by the Red Raiders led this game to end in a 16-5 victory. When Sunday rolled around the match-up proved a lot more balanced than the previous two games. Through six innings it seemed as if Texas Tech and Texas mirrored each other’s run production getting the tally up to 4-3 Red Raiders. Then the Longhorns would have a three-run inning that just couldn’t be matched. Tech scored five runs on 10 hits and left nine on base (two in the ninth inning) in the finale loss against Texas. Up next, Texas Tech has the very formidable Dallas Baptist Patriots on Tuesday and a big series against Oklahoma State this weekend in Stillwater, OK.

Softball is out here breaking all kinds of records

In Texas Tech’s crushing of UTEP this weekend, Junior Jessica Hartwell broke the school record for home runs in a season, launching three past the wall in the finale.

The Red Raiders compiled 21 hits on the day, which was good enough to break a 21-year school record for triples in a season. It was redshirt freshman Heaven Burton who tripled in the seventh inning of game two for the team’s 19^th triple of the year, moving them past the 1997 Red Raiders for most triples in a season. The win is Tech’s seventh in a row, guaranteeing the Red Raiders a winning season through the Big 12 Championship next weekend in Oklahoma City.

Kingsbury has friends in high places

It’s no surprise that Coach Kingsbury has a wealth of friends at the higher echelons of society... but even this was bigger than I could have imagined. Pictured here is Kingsbury with THE Mason Ramsey aka the Walmart yodel kid. You may recognize him from his breakout sensation Lovesick Blues:

Que the 101231931274971 memes that would follow this, launching young Mason Ramsey to the TOP of the food chain in the Twitter-made pop stars category. The begging question is how did Kingsbury get a picture with him?! Truly a lifetime achievement.

Well that’s all I have for you guys this week, so stay caffeinated and get those guns up!