Tech baseball looks to bounce back in rematch with Duke

The Texas Tech Red Raiders last dropped 2 out of 3 to West Virginia. They are still in the Big 12 title race but will take a mid-week break to battle the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, North Carolina tonight at 5pm. While the Red Raiders are coming off of a so-so weekend, they have this Super Regional rematch with Duke to look forward to. Here’s how the Blue Devils will match-up with the Red Raiders.

Like the Red Raiders, the Blue Devils have gone through a ton of changes in the off-season and their team looks different to the one we saw in Lubbock last season. They have a similar make-up to the West Virginia team the Red Raiders just faced this past weekend. They are led by their pitching and have some decent hitters as well.

At the plate they are led by senior outfielder Kenny Taylor. He is hitting .329 on the season with 4 home runs and 31 RBI. He is also leading this team with 52 hits and 16 doubles on the season. He leads the team in most offensive categories and hits second in the lineup now. Joey Loperfido is someone the Red Raiders should remember from last season’s team. He has battled injury but has come back pretty strong this season.

In just 13 games this season, Loperfido is hitting .313 and has 8 RBI on the season. Matt Meris is a player for Duke that has really come one of late, starting in just 22 of their games. He is hitting .337 on the season with 4 home runs and 19 RBI. They have some good hitters that can put you down a couple of runs.

Texas Tech has had some lineup changes recently including moving Josh Jung to shortstop on Sunday. Time will tell if this move is permanent of if it was a temporary move. They also moved Gabe Holt to third in the lineup and let Cody Masters batted lead-off. These changes might bleed over as the team had been in a slump of late.

Pitching Match-Up:

Texas Tech Projected Starter:

Mason Montgomery:

3-0 4.45 ERA 28.1 IP

Duke Projected Starter:

Cooper Stinson:

1-2 4.23 ERA 38.1 IP

Both of these guys play well for their teams and it will be a great game no matter what. This is a good mid-week match-up for both teams going into the back half of conference play. Can the Red Raiders get out of their slump? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!