Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
27-6, 0
Baylor
19-11, 0
No. 6 Tech Rolls Past No. 29 Baylor, 13-2
April 07, 2017 | Baseball
The Red Raiders score 13 runs on 14 hits to take game one of the weekend series
LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 6 Texas Tech baseball team opened its first home conference series of the year with a bang, storming through No. 29 Baylor, 13-2, in front of a sold-out Rip Griffin Park on Friday night.
The Red Raiders (27-6, 5-2) racked up 13 runs on 14 hits against the Bears (19-11, 2-5) in the series opener, the first double-digit scoring effort against Baylor since 2013. It was the 16th game this year and the second consecutive with 10 or more hits and ninth with 10 or more runs.
Eight different Red Raiders recorded a knock on Friday night, with five producing multi-hit bids. Freshman outfielder Grant Little tallied his third multi-hit game in four contests, racking up three more against the Bears. Joining him with two-hit games were Michael Davis, Tanner Gardner, Hunter Hargrove and Josh Jung, keeping Little & Hargrove in the team lead with 14.
Freshman right-hander John Henry Gonzalez made his seventh start of the year against Baylor, going 2.0 innings and allowing two runs on three hits, while striking out two and walking one. Another freshman, righty Caleb Kilian, who started at New Mexico State on Tuesday, picked his second-straight win after throwing a perfect 3.0 frames in relief. Between Kilian, Erikson Lanning and Jake McDonald, the trio rung up seven Bears, allowed just one hit and did not issue a walk. Included in that stretch was a string of 20-straight batters retired from the third to ninth innings.
It was the third time this season Tech has held a conference foe to two or fewer runs in a game. Kilian's wins in back-to-back games made him the first Red Raider since Ryan Moseley last year to record two consecutive victories.
Baylor struck first in the opening frame, taking an early 1-0 lead. A single from Raguse into center field led off the inning, followed by a one-out double from Langeliers to the left-center field gap to plate the first run of the game. Langeliers would be stranded at third to end the frame though, as Gonzalez countered with a pair of strikeouts to end the first.
Tech responded in the bottom half of the inning with two of their own to make it 2-1. Davis ripped the first pitch he saw with one out up the middle to give the Red Raiders their first baserunner of the night. A hit-by-pitch put two on for Hargrove, who placed a double perfectly near the right field line to score Davis and move Jung to third to tie the game. It was his Big 12-leading 16th double of the year and 29th RBI of the season.
A sacrifice fly from Berglund in the next at-bat plated Jung to push Tech into the lead at 2-1. Baylor pulled even in the top of half of the second thanks to a groundout to first after a couple of bunts, one resulting in a single, the other a sacrifice, to put two in scoring position with one away.
For the 16th time this season, the Red Raiders scored four runs in a single inning, this time doing so in the third to make it 7-2. Jung began the frame with a deep shot that was mishandled by the rightfielder, allowing him to scoot safely over to third. Hargrove followed with his second RBI of the night, smacking a single to left-center to break the tie.
Another single by Berglund put two on & was fulfilled by Garcia's three-run blast over the left field bullpen to push Tech's lead to 6-2. It was Garcia's fifth dinger of the season and first since March 19 at then-No. 21 Texas.
Tech would plate one more in the frame thanks to a double down the left field line, driving in Gardner all the way from first to complete the five-run frame.
The Red Raiders tacked on five more in the fifth to push their advantage to 12-2. The first three batters reached for Tech to begin the frame, Garcia via a walk, followed by a single from Long and a two-RBI double from Gardner to push the score to 9-2. After a flyout, back-to-back singles from Little and Davis brought home another run to give Tech its ninth 10-run scoring effort this season.
A walk to Jung loaded the bases for Hargrove, who induced another free pass to plate another run. With the bases still loaded, Berglund put down an RBI groundout to make it 12-2. Tech plated another in the sixth behind an RBI single from Little that scored Farhat from second, giving the Red Raiders a 13-2 lead.
Tech scored five runs in two separate innings for the first time this season, extending their four or more run frame total to 17.
The Red Raiders return to action for game two on Saturday, April 8, at 2 p.m. at Rip Griffin Park.
Kilian => Lanning => McDonald
— Texas Tech Baseball (@TTU_Baseball) April 8, 2017
This trio sat down 20-straight from the 3rd to 9th innings.#WreckEm pic.twitter.com/FrT5KpmhOE
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kilian, Caleb (2-0)
L: Lewis, Nick (3-3)
Batting:
2B: Langeliers, Shea 1
RBI: Langeliers, Shea 1 ; Cascadden, Tucker 1
SH: Bissonette, Josh 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Raguse, T.J. 1 ; Wendzel, Davis 1
Batting:
2B: Little, Grant 1 ; Hargrove, Hunter 1 ; Gardner, Tanner 1
3B: Jung, Josh 1
HR: Garcia, Orlando 1
RBI: Little, Grant 2 ; Davis, Michael 1 ; Hargrove, Hunter 3 ; Berglund, Michael 2 ; Garcia, Orlando 3 ; Gardner, Tanner 2
SF: Berglund, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Little, Grant 1 ; Davis, Michael 2 ; Jung, Josh 2 ; Hargrove, Hunter 1 ; Berglund, Michael 1 ; Garcia, Orlando 2 ; Long, Ryan 1 ; Gardner, Tanner 2 ; Farhat, Cody 1
CS: Garcia, Orlando 1
HBP: Jung, Josh 1 ; Lyons, Anthony 1
