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Lubbock, Texas – No. 22 Texas Tech dropped its Big 12 series against No. 12 Oklahoma State 9-4 on Saturday afternoon at Rip Griffin Park. The Cowboys jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning with their first four home runs of the contest and never relinquished the lead.
“Big 12 weekends are tough,” head coach Tim Tadlock said. “The game of baseball is tough. It’s a tough game and as it develops, you understand the number of demands and how you have to go about your preparation … Big 12 play, Big 12 teams. If you beat them on Friday, or they beat you on Friday, you get your best on Saturday. No matter what happens on Saturday, you get your best on Sunday. As the league is.
More than allowing a season-high four home runs—his most since Oklahoma’s six on May 19, 2022—the Cowboys have benefited by hitting seven of their nine runs with two outs. Four of those came in a five-run eighth inning that effectively sealed the game.
“These guys do a great job of being on all the fields and it makes you want to go out there and compete a little bit more,” Saturday starter Mason Molina said. “They’re a much richer hitting group than we’ve had in the past. Just another ballgame.”
Molina got off to a good start for the Red Raiders, but suffered his first loss of the season. The sophomore exited the game with little run support and faced a 3-1 deficit after 5 1/3 innings. Molina had eight in a row between the second and fourth innings to plate Tyler Wolfert’s solo home run. The second home run was with two outs, the first as the leadoff batter.
Molina finished with six losses. Dating back to last season, the sophomore has at least five hits in his last seven starts.
“He pitched well to keep us in the game,” Tadlock said. “Maybe he wasn’t as sharp as he wanted to be. Maybe he didn’t have his best stuff. The sign of a boy is when they don’t have the best stuff and they put you in the game. He thought he was okay.”
It was just the third time this season that the Redskins offense was limited to four runs or less. Three of Texas Tech’s four losses this season have come in those games.
Three of the Red Raiders’ four runs on Saturday were solo home runs by Damian Bravo, Ty Coleman and Austin Green. Bravo finished third, Coleman eighth and Green ninth.
OSU bounced back with a four-run inning over the first six innings before closing the door with a five-run eighth inning.
The loss snapped a six-game hitting streak against Oklahoma State.
Next
Sunday will serve as a rubber match between the two teams. The first game, scheduled for 2 p.m., will be Tech’s first rubber match of the 2023 season.
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