Texas Tech University Athletics
Big 12's Top Offenses Meet In Lawrence This Weekend
April 29, 2004 | Baseball
April 29, 2004
TEXAS TECH at KANSAS
April 30 - May 2, 2004
Hoglund Park - Lawrence, Kansas
Texas Tech vs. Kansas - Gameday Central
Are You A Member Of The College Sports Pass?
If you are the ultimate Texas Tech baseball fan then you need to be a member of the College Sports Pass. The College Sports Pass is a video and audio service at www.texastech.com that takes you right to the action of Red Raider baseball. The CSP is just $6.95 per month while quarterly and yearly subcriptions are available. Check out the latest on the College Sports Pass.
Complete Texas Tech Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Red Raiders Set To Take On Kansas
Two of the Big 12's top ranked offenses will clash this weekend as the 25th-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders travel to Lawrence, Kan. to take on the Kansas Jayhawks in a three-game series at Hoglund Park. The series is set to begin at 6 p.m. on Friday night and continues at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening. The third and final game of the series will get underway at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The Red Raiders, who entered the national Top 25 for the first time this season on Monday, have been on a roll in the month of April and now stand at 28-13 overall. Texas Tech , who has gone 11-4 in April, has resurrected itself from the bottom of the Big 12 standings and now sits firmly in fourth place with an 8-6 record behind Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. Texas Tech picked up a big non-conference win on Tuesday night as they disposed of New Mexico 10-1. The win over New Mexico came on the heels of an emotional 2-1 series win over 13th-ranked Oklahoma over the weekend.
The Kansas Jayhawks enter the weekend series against Texas Tech with a 25-22-1 overall record after defeating 2003 College World Series participant Southwest Missouri State 7-6 on Tuesday night at Hoglund Park. The Jayhawks have a 2-12 record in Big 12 play and currently sit in ninth place in the conference standings. Kansas' lone Big 12 wins came against then No. 20 Nebraska 12-9 on March 28 and against then No. 15 Texas A&M 9-7 on April 11.
All three games of the Texas Tech-Kansas series will be carried live on the Red Raider Baseball Radio Network. Mark Finkner will be bringing all the action from Lawrence over the weekend and fans can tune into the pregame show 25 minute prior to first pitch on KKAM-1340. All three games will be available on gametracker via the Texas Tech website at www.texastech.com and live streaming audio can also be accessed at the world wide home for Red Raider sports.
The Tech-Kansas Series
The all-time Texas Tech-Kansas series began back on March 17, 1981 when the Red Raiders took a 6-1 decision in the Texas-Pan American Tournament. The Red Raiders have since extended its all-time lead over the Jayhawks to 17-7. Kansas picked up its first series win over the Red Raiders last year as the Jayhawks downed Tech 2-1 in a three-game set that was played at Dan Law Field. Texas Tech is 6-3 against Kansas all-time in Lawrence and has won seven of the last 10 meetings between the two.
A Look At Kansas
The Kansas Jayhawks enter the weekend series against Texas Tech with an overall record of 25-22-1 and are 2-12 in the Big 12 Conference. Kansas picked up a win over Southwest Missouri State on Tuesday night after falling to Baylor 2-0 over the weekend in Waco. The Hawks have already played 48 games this season due to the fact they played seven exempt games at Hawaii-Hilo to open up the 2004 campaign.
Kansas boasts the top overall offense in the Big 12 Conference as they have a team batting average of .320. However, the team Big 12 batting average ranks ninth as the Jayhawks are hitting just .257. The squad, like Texas Tech, has shown they can hit the long ball as they have 54 home runs on the season and are led by third baseman Travis Metcalf who leads the league with 16. Matt Baty leads the KU offense with a .366 average while Sean Richardson leads the team with 56 RBI.
The Kansas pitching staff has a combined ERA of 4.95 overall and 6.90 in Big 12 play. The leading hurler for Kansas has been Ryan Knippschild (Friday starter) who is 5-6 overall with a 4.85 ERA in 85 1/3 innings of work. Sean Land leads the team with two saves and is 3-1 in 38 2/3.
The Jayhawks are coached by Ritch Price who is in his second season at the helm.
Oklahoma Recap
- Texas Tech has now won three consecutive Big 12 series including two over teams ranked in the nation's Top 15 (then No. 12 Nebraska and No. 13 Oklahoma).
- Josh Haney finished the weekend with a .467 batting average as he was 7-for-15 at the plate with two doubles, a home run and seven RBI.
- Sunday's attendance of 4,040 was the second-largest crowd at Dan Law Field of the season, however, the three-game total of 10,120 was a season high - surpassing the Clemson series that drew 9,850.
- Texas Tech matched its entire conference win total from last season today as the Red Raiders won their eighth game in league play. Tech finished the 2003 season with an 8-18 record in Big 12 play.
Tech Enters National Rankings
Texas Tech entered the national rankings for the first time of the 2004 season this week as the Red Raiders got nods from Collegiate Baseball Magazine and the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association). The Red Raiders are ranked No. 28 this week by Collegiate Baseball Magazine and No. 25 in the latest NCBWA Top 25 poll.
With this week's rankings, the Tech baseball program has now been ranked nationally in each of the last 12 seasons. The baseball team became the fourth major sport at Texas Tech (Football, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball and Baseball) to be ranked in the nation's top 25 and makes Tech one of just three schools in the Big 12 to have all four teams ranked in the same season (joining Texas and Oklahoma).
This Kid Is On Fire!
Junior shortstop Cameron Blair extended his current hitting streak to 14 games on Tuesday night against New Mexico. Blair's 14-game streak is the fifth longest of the season by a Big 12 player and is currently the longest active.
Blair also picked up his third grand slam of the year in the Tuesday game against New Mexico. As far as Texas Tech records indicate, that is a new school record and it ties the Big 12 record that was previously held by Jose Montenegro of Oklahoma who hit three back in 1998.
Blair has seven home runs on the season and is second behind Josh Brady with a .355 batting average.
Red Raiders Are On A Roll
Texas Tech is in the middle of a very successful month of April as the Red Raiders have gone 11-4 and jumped into the national rankings. Tech has now won 11 of its last 13 games and has just six more road games on the 2004 regular-season slate.
Offense, Offense And More Offense
The Tech baseball team has begun to mirror Mike Leach's high octane offense as the Red Raiders currently rank sixth nationally in scoring (9.4 runs per game). Leach's high-powered offense led the country in total offense in 2003 and finished fourth in scoring.
Briefly
- Texas Tech has moved from ninth place in the Big 12 standings to fourth place in a matter of three weeks. Texas Tech has made its move thanks to three consecutive Big 12 series wins over Nebraska, Kansas State and Oklahoma. The Red Raiders will be looking to win their fourth straight league series for the first time since 2001.
- With Sunday's 6-5 win over Oklahoma, the Red Raiders maintained their perfect record on Sunday and now stand at 9-0.
- Senior hurler Corey Gerstner has quickly become Tech's ace out of the bullpen. This past weekend against Oklahoma he picked up both a win and a save in five shutout innings in which he held the Sooners to just four hits. He leads the team with a 2.10 ERA and is a perfect 4-0 on the year in 34 1/3 innings of work.
- Texas Tech now leads the Big 12 in both home runs and stolen bases. Tech's four home run outburst against New Mexico was good enough to move the Red Raiders past Kansas while 12 stolen bases over the weekend helped move Tech past Texas for the stolen bag lead. Tech has 56 home runs on the year and 98 stolen bases.
- Tech's Big 12 ERA of 4.06 is the second best in the Big 12 behind Texas who leads with a 2.32 ERA.
- Tech's unofficial RPI this week is No. 22 and is the third highest among Big 12 teams (Texas & Texas A&M).
