Texas Tech University Athletics
Tech Baseball Faces Crucial Road Test Against Kansas State
April 17, 2003 | Baseball
April 17, 2003
TEXAS TECH (23-16; 5-9) AT KANSAS STATE (10-24; 0-12)
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Opponent: Kansas State Wildcats
Series Location: Manhattan, Kan.
Stadium: Tointon Family Stadium
Capacity: 2,331
Dates: April 18-20
Game Times: 7 p.m./2 p.m./1 p.m.
Radio: All Sports Radio Network (1340 KKAM); Mark Finkner (Play-By-Play); Jason Totman (Color)
Internet: www.texastech.com; Game Audio & Live Box Score
The Coaches
Mike Clark (Kansas State)
Overall Record: 723-612 (24 Seasons)
Record at Kansas State: 430-476 (17 Seasons)
Larry Hays (Texas Tech)
Overall Record: 1,344-722-3 (33 Seasons)
Record at Tech: 649-341-2 (17 Seasons)
The Series: Texas Tech leads 15-5.
Pitching Rotations
Friday
Steve Gooch (TT), RHP (4-3; 3.84 ERA)
vs. Kevin Melcher (KSU), RHP (0-4; 8.72 ERA)
Saturday
Dusty Buck (TT), RHP (2-1; 5.55 ERA)
vs. Jim Ripley (KSU), RHP (2-4; 6.23 ERA)
Sunday
Nathan Fouts (TT), RHP (3-3; 6.51 ERA)
vs. Alan Woodward (KSU), RHP (0-1; 4.12 ERA)
TECH IN SEARCH OF MOMENTUM; TRAVELS TO KANSAS STATE
Texas Tech will travel to Manhattan, Kan. this weekend to take on last place Kansas State in what is a crucial series for the Red Raiders if they hope to earn a post-season berth in the NCAA Tournament. Tech has lost 11 of its last 19 games and is 5-9 in the Big 12, marking Tech's worst Big 12 season since the league began in 1997. The Red Raiders, however, will face an opponent in Kansas State that has lost a school record 16-straight games and is 0-12 in the Big 12.
Texas Tech was hoping to jumpstart its season on the road at New Mexico on Tuesday but the Lobos erased a late one-run Texas Tech lead in the eighth to take a 13-11 win. The win by New Mexico evened the season long five-game series at 2-2 as the two teams will meet for the final time in Albuquerque on April 29. In its last Big 12 outing, Texas Tech suffered its first-ever series loss to Kansas 2-1 at Dan Law Field over the weekend. All three games came down to one-run but the Jayhawks won on Friday and Sunday to clinch the series.
Texas Tech and Kansas State will play a three-game series at Tointon Family Stadium on the KSU campus beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday night. Game-two of the series is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday and the series will conclude with a 1 p.m. game on Easter Sunday. All three games will be carried over the radio on the flagship station of Texas Tech Athletics, KKAM-1340.
BRIEFLY
- Texas Tech will be looking to give head coach Larry Hays yet another career milestone as he needs just one more win to reach 650 career wins as the head coach of the Red Raiders. He is now 649-341-2 in 17 seasons at the helm of the Tech program.
- Two wins this weekend would give Texas Tech its 1,200th win. Texas Tech is now 1,198-916-8 in 54 seasons of baseball.
- Nathan Fouts is scheduled to start on Sunday marking the first time since the San Francisco series that he is scheduled for a weekend start. Fouts last made a weekend start against the Dons on Feb. 15.
- Texas Tech will be looking to improve its road record this weekend as the Red Raiders are just 3-9 away from Dan Law Field this season. Tech has lost three-straight on the road with the last win coming at Texas on March 30.
A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS
Kansas State is suffering through one of its most disappointing seasons in a long time as the Wildcats are currently on a school record 16-game losing skid. The 16-game streak is the longest current losing streak in the nation and ties Canisius for the second-longest streak of the 2003 season. A Texas Tech win on Friday night would give KSU a 17-game losing skid thus tying them with Maryland-Eastern Shore for the longest losing streak of 2003.
The Wildcats and Red Raiders played five times last season and Kansas State won its first-ever series over the Red Raiders as they robbed Tech 2-1 in a three-game set in Lubbock. The two teams split two games in the Big 12 Tournament as the Wildcats made their first-ever Big 12 tourney appearance. The last time Texas Tech traveled to Manhattan (2001), the Red Raiders came home with a series win 2-1.
Offensively, Kansas State is batting .290 overall and is hitting .257 as a team in the Big 12. The Wildcat offense suffered the loss of Ty Soto last week to a broken wrist and he will be out at least six weeks. Soto was the second-leading hitter on the team with a .360 batting average. Tim Doty paces the team with a .362 average and has eight home runs and 30 RBI.
On the hill, the Wildcats have a team ERA of 7.34 that ranks last in the Big 12 Conference. Kansas State has given up 244 earned runs in 299 1/3 innings this year.
Defensively, Kansas State has committed 70 errors this season for a fielding percentage of .947.
TECH VS. KANSAS STATE (BIG 12 BREAKDOWN)
1997: Texas Tech won 3-0 in Manhattan
1998: Texas Tech won 3-0 in Lubbock
1999: Texas Tech and Kansas State split 1-1 in Manhattan
2000: Texas Tech won 3-0 in Lubbock
2001: Texas Tech won 2-1 in Manhattan
2002: Kansas State won 2-1 in Lubbock
UP NEXT FOR THE RED RAIDERS
The Red Raiders return home for what will be a four-game home stand for Tech as the team will host Howard Payne on Tuesday afternoon at 5 p.m. and the Nebraska Cornhuskers over the weekend. The Texas Tech/Nebraska game on Friday will begin at 7 p.m. and it will be Turn Back The Clock Night.
IT'S NOW OR NEVER
Texas Tech suddenly finds itself in desperate need of a series win and most likely a sweep if it hopes to extend its streak of going to the NCAA Tournament to nine years. The Red Raiders are currently seventh in the Big 12 Standings with a 5-9 overall Big 12 record. Tech has four remaining Big 12 series left (including KSU) and most likely needs to go 9-3 the rest of the way to help put itself in position for a possible at-large berth. The RPI is actually in Tech's favor this week as the Red Raiders are at No. 34 and have a No. 23 ISR (iterative strength ranking).
INJURY UPDATE
Evan Shahak - Will return this weekend after missing 12 games due to a strained back. The last time he played was against Texas A&M on March 22.
Juan Razo - Out Three-Four Weeks - Elbow strain
Brock Johns - Out for the Season - Had season-ending surgery on April 10 to repair torn cartilage in his right shoulder. Will apply for medical redshirt.
Randy Gattis - Out for the Season - Suffered a blood clot in his throwing arm earlier this season. Will apply for medical redshirt
*Johns and Gattis are the only two freshmen pitchers on the Tech roster. Gattis was a 39th-round pick by the Yankees in 2002.
JORDAN HAVING STELLAR YEAR
Senior left fielder Scooter Jordan is primed for All-Big 12 honors in 2003 as he is currently the 39th-leading hitter in the nation with a .429 average. The 5-8, 160-pound Dallas, Texas, native has 42 hits in 98 at-bats and has drawn 28 walks and two hit-by-pitches. He has hit safely in 23 of the 34 games he has played this year and tallied multiple hit games 12 times.
Jordan started off the 2003 season with just a .308 batting average through the first 10 games but since then he has hit .472 to raise his average to its current mark of .429.
FULLER PULLING DOUBLE DUTY
Sophomore outfielder Cody Fuller has been pulling double duty lately as he is currently going through spring football practice along side baseball. Fuller played in nine games last season for Mike Leach and finished with six catches for 60 yards.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
- The Texas Tech offense has been sluggish in Big 12 play as the Red Raiders are batting just .272 which ranks eighth in the league.
- The Red Raiders have hit just .245 in 12 road games this season.
- Prior to the Big 12 season, Texas Tech was hitting .356 with runners in scoring position, but that number, however, has fallen drastically as the Red Raiders are hitting just .233 in league play. Tech also had a pinch hitting average of .393 (11-of-28) prior to league play but is 1-for-11 (.091) in the Big 12.
- Texas Tech had three home runs against Kansas on Sunday marking the first time this season that Tech had hit multiple home runs in a game. Tech then hit two home runs against New Mexico on Tuesday to give the Red Raiders back-to-back games with multiple home runs.
- Texas Tech scored in double digits on Tuesday against New Mexico for just the second time since March 1 when they defeated Northern Iowa 13-9.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
- Texas Tech's .972 fielding percentage leads the Big 12 Conference.
- Texas Tech's fielding percentage continues to slump as the Red Raiders have now committed an error in 15 of the last 17 games and in eight of those 15 games, Tech has committed multiple errors.
- Texas Tech entered the Big 12 season with just 15 errors and a .982 fielding percentage through 22 games. Since then, Tech has committed 28 errors in 17 games for a fielding percentage of .959 through that stretch. Tech is fielding at .964 in Big 12 play which ranks second in the league.
- Tech has rattled off two 30+ errorless inning stretches this year and one 27+ stretch.
- Texas Tech has turned 40 double plays this season and hit into 22.
