Tech takes OU series with a bang

Well, that was fun!

Texas Tech comes home from Norman with a series win over the Oklahoma Sooners and made some history in the process. Over the weekend the Red Raiders homered TWELVE times yes that’s (12) and had three grand slams to come back after losing game one to put an exclamation point on this series.

With the series win and some other teams around the country losing and shuffling in the rankings, the Red Raiders have now moved up to #5 in the rankings and with a series win over Kansas this weekend and one or two victories in the Big 12 tournament I don’t see why Tech shouldn’t be hosting a Regional and a Super Regional.

Let’s take a look at the offensive explosion from the weekend:

Friday

Tech 8- OU 9 (10 innings)

On Friday, the Red Raiders dropped game one in extra innings. This game was highlighted by poor pitching and good hitting for Tech. Patrick Monteverde was roughed up from the beginning and never really recovered as he went four and a third innings giving up seven runs on eight hits. Ryan Sublette got the loss in an unfortunate turn of events as he went three innings and struck out seven. On the night Tech pitching gave up three runs alone on wild pitches. That is inexcusable. Monteverde had three, Kurt Wilson had one, and Sublette had two. Tech had more wild pitches on Friday than walks.

On the hitting side, Tech benefitted on homers from Cal Conley, Jace Jung, Cody Masters, and Cole Stilwell. Unfortunately, four homers weren’t enough to recover from the poor pitching in this one.

Saturday

Tech 15- OU 2

Saturday, Tech got the offensive wheels turning once again and they weren’t leaving the pitching to chance. The good part about Saturday on the pitching side was that Micah Dallas once again turned in a stellar outing and he partnered up with Connor Queen, to turn in a two run, 10 strikeout performance. Dallas went six innings striking out eight and Queen got the three inning save.

Offensively, the Red Raiders didn’t waste any time as they were up 8-0 by the end of the top of the third. Needless to say, Tech never looked back as Dru Baker had a career day going three-for-five with six RBIs. Cal Conley also had four RBIs on the day as well.

Sunday

Tech 13- OU 2 (7 innings)

For the second time this season in a rubber match of a Big 12 series, the Red Raiders won their Sunday game by a run rule after seven innings. Mason Montgomery turned in a masterful performance going five innings only giving up one run and striking out six. Chase Hampton followed him with two innings of one-run ball as well.

Tech wasted no time on Sunday getting runs on the board either as the Red Raiders were up 11-1 after four innings. Tech had homers from Easton Murrell, Jace Jung, Cal Conley, Cole Stilwell, and Braxton Fulford on the day.

Series Thoughts

Tech turned in a poor pitching performance on Friday and that was the only reason this series wasn’t swept by the Red Raiders. After Friday, I’ll be honest I was very concerned with the pitching staff and I was thinking “oh no here we go again”. However, the offense wasn’t leaving the rest of the series up to chance, scoring 28 runs in two games. The pitching also improved the last two games only giving up four runs over the final two games.

With Tech moving to number five in the rankings this week, I’m predicting Tech will at least win one game in the Big 12 tournament and SHOULD win the Kansas series, therefore I firmly believe the Red Raiders should be hosting at least a regional in Lubbock and possibly a Super Regional as well.

This Week

This week, the Red Raiders will face the Kansas Jayhawks in a Thursday-Friday-Saturday Big 12 regular season finale. I’ll put out a short preview on the Jayhawks later this week, but I will mention they gave TCU a run for their money in a series in Ft. Worth earlier this season, so this won’t be a cakewalk.

Game Times are as follows:

Thursday- 6:30 p.m.- Dan Law Field

Friday- 2:00 p.m.- Dan Law Field

Saturday- 12:00 p.m.- Dan Law Field

THANKFULLY, all games are on ESPN+ this week/weekend so the games are available to watch. You can also listen to Geoff and Jamie on TTSN for the radio broadcast.

Follow Along

Be sure to follow @vivathematadors for all of your Texas Tech Sports updates, as well as, @JackBellSports as the Red Raiders are postseason bound in a little over a week.