Preview: No. 16 Tech hosts Baylor.

BAYLOR at No. 16 Texas Tech
Lubbock, Texas Rip Griffin Park

April 21-23, 2023

Texas Tech Game Notes (PDF) | Baylor Game Notes (PDF)

Promotional notes

• Saturday

  • RED OUT: All patrons are encouraged to wear red to the game.

STARTERS

Texas Tech is on board to begin its fifth Big 12 series of the season Friday night at Rip Griffin Park against Bayer. The Red Raiders enter the series with a 6-6 (.500) Big 12 mark midway through the conference season, and six teams in the Big 12 have conference winning percentages of .500 or .500 or better. Tech sits in sixth place but is 8-4 (.667) just two games off the pace of first place Texas. Texas and Texas Tech are the only two Big 12 teams that currently reside in the D1Baseball Top 25.

Friday’s contest will be broadcast on ESPNU, with coverage switching to the Big 12 now on ESPN+ for the remainder of the series. Clay Matvic and Mike Rooney will be in the lineup for the World Cup Friday at Rip Griffin Park. Chris Sylvester will be on the mic for play-by-play duties, while John Harris will fill that role on Sunday. Sylvester and Harris will be joined by former Red Raider baseball player Mike Gustafson to provide analysis.

The Texas Tech Sports Network broadcasts the game to more than 46 affiliates across the state of Texas and New Mexico, as well as on the varsity app. Geoff Haxton will be on the call for each race with Jamie Lent.

Texas Tech nationally
After five games on the road against Stanford and Oklahoma, the Red Raiders have moved up the ranks in all six of the National Baseball Top 25 rankings released on April 17. Of the six polls — D1Baseball, Baseball America, NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball, USA Today Coaches and Perfect Game — Texas Tech is ranked in the top 25 in all six polls in one week except for the D1Baseball Poll on March 6/Week 3 Poll.

• D1 Baseball: No. 16 (+5)
• Baseball America: No. 15 (+4)
• NCBWA: No. 18 (+2)
• College Baseball: 21 (+2)
• American coaches: No. 19 (+3)
• Perfect game: No. 13 (+4)

The Big 12 D1Baseball recognizes its major rankings, so when a ranking is needed, Texas Tech is the same as the conference in those situations.

Scheduled pitching matches

• Friday, April 21: LHP Mason Molina (3-2, 4.60 ERA) vs RHP Blake Helton (0-4, 7.88 ERA)
• Saturday, April 22: RHP Trendan Parish (2-0, 5.09 ERA) vs. RHP Mason Marriott (1-5, 8.60 ERA)
• Saturday April 23: TBA vs. RHP Will Rigney (3-1, 3.80 ERA)

Four down, four to go
Believe it or not, Texas Tech is almost halfway through its Big 12 conference schedule. Texas Tech has won three of its four Big 12 series. Picked to finish third in the 2023 Big 12 Preseason Poll, Texas Tech owns a two-game winning streak against preseason No. 1 TCU and preseason No. 2 Oklahoma State. On the road, Texas Tech was swept by preseason pick No. 4 Texas and recently won the series at Oklahoma, two games to one, which was the preseason pick No. 5 team.

Monster five-game run
In the last five games Gavin Cash He’s hit 11-for-20 (.550) with six home runs and 16 RBIs and is slugging at a 1.500 percent clip. The Texas Tech sophomore leads the Big 12 in hits (68), home runs (19), runs (47), RBIs (66), total bases (141) and slugging percentage (.860). Cash, meanwhile, leads the nation in both hits and total bases, and ranks second in RBIs and home runs.

ready when called
Known as a plug-in player for any location, Zac Voletic In the last 10 games, he has taken advantage of good opportunities. Since breaking into the starting lineup 10 games ago, he leads the Reds with a .421 batting average (16-for-38) during that stretch. Last time out, he logged his first career triple. In the last 10 games, Vooletic started in second place for the first two, giving Austin Green Day Off played in a doubleheader against North Dakota State on April 8 … On April 8, right fielder Owen Washburn He went down with an injury and started playing right field in Voletich’s absence starting April 10 at Stanford.

Big 12 sweep
While the Red Raiders were looking for a Big 12 series sweep Sunday at Oklahoma, Texas Tech announced on Monday that the league’s Player of the Week award went all the way to the Red Raiders. Gavin Cash He was named the 12th Player of the Week. Ryan free He was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and Gage Harrelson He was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. It’s the first time in Big 12 weekly awards history that Texas Tech has claimed all three, and the first time a Big 12 team has taken home all three since April 2021 (Texas: Evan Melendez, Tristan Stevens, Mike Antico).

NCAA STAT Leaders
Entering Friday’s game against Baylor, Tech is ranked in the NCAA Top 10 in 10 different statistical categories. (NCAA stat report after games played Wednesday, April 19):

• Number 2 in hits (444)
• No. 2 in double plays (41)
• No. 2 in Sacrifice Flies (32)
• No. 3 in double plays per game (1.05)
• No. 5 Walking (235)
• No. 6 in runs (358)
• No. 7 in batting average (.320)
• Number 7 in triples (17)
• No. 9 in runs per game (9.2)
• No. 10 in on-base percentage (.427)

Serial Story – Baylor

• Friday’s meeting was the 179th in the 1928 series.
• The Baylor series is the second longest for the Red Raiders, behind the TCU series.

  • Following Tech’s series against TCU earlier this season, the two teams have played 184 times.

• Under Tadlock, the Red Raiders have won six of their nine series against the Bears.
• Under Tadlock, the Red Raiders are 19-12 against the Bears.
• The Bears won the series in 2021 in Lubbock. It was Bayer’s first series win at Texas Tech since 2010.

  • In 2021, the Bears won Sunday’s rubber match to become the first team to leave Lubbock with a winning streak since 2018. Since 2018, Oklahoma remains one of only two teams to close out the 2022 regular season with a back-to-back win over Lubbock. The hot streak on a trip to the College World Series.

• The last time both teams tied the series was in 2015. Tech has won all three in Lubbock.

2022 wind again
Texas Tech went to Waco a year ago and won Friday and Saturday’s games before dropping Sunday’s finale at Baylor Ballpark. The Red Raiders defeated Baylor 7-1 on Friday night before a fireworks display at Bayer Ballpark. The Red Raiders’ main effort was in the starting lineup. Andrew Morris Seven innings of work on the mound and a quick offensive start led to a 5-0 lead after the top of the third — all five runs scored with two outs. Tech swept the series on the day of the series with an 11-1 victory. Brandon Birdsell He followed Morris’ one-run, seven-inning masterpiece Friday night with a one-run, seven-inning gem of his own. Also like Friday night’s win, the Red Raiders used early plays to take control of the game. Tech led Baylor 5-1 after three full innings on Friday, and again 5-1 after the first three innings on Saturday. Texas Tech dropped the series finale to Baylor 11-7 on Sunday. The Red Raiders outscored the home team 5-0 going into the fifth inning, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the nine-run margin the Bears had built up in the early months. Trendan Parish’s First career start.

ACU is rescheduled.
Texas Tech has announced that it will host Abilene Christian on Wednesday, April 5, and Tuesday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Rip Griffin Park. The game is scheduled to be postponed on April 4. Due to inclement weather, Texas Tech and Abilene Christian agreed to postpone the game to another date. Those who continue to own single-game tickets for the April 4 contest will be able to trade those in for the rescheduled May 9 match. All ticket exchanges are valid only if originally purchased through the Texas Tech Ticket Office (excluding third party and season tickets). Fans can contact the Texas Tech Ticket Office at (806) 742-8324 with additional questions. TexasTech.com/Tickets.

Big 12 Championship
The 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship will be played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, May 24-28. Visit for information on availability and tickets Big12Sports.com.

–tech–