Texas Tech University Athletics
Tech Heads North To Take On Huskers
April 07, 2004 | Baseball
April 7, 2004
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LUBBOCK, Texas - The Texas Tech baseball team will head north to take on the 12th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers over the weekend in what has quickly become a pivotal Big 12 series for the Red Raiders. Texas Tech and Nebraska will get things going at 6:35 p.m. on Friday night and will play again at 2:05 p.m. on Saturday. The series will conclude with a 1:05 p.m. game on Sunday.
Red Raider fans can catch all the action on the Red Raider Baseball Radio Network as it will carry all three games of the series. Mark Finker will call the action from Lincoln and the pregame show will begin 25 minutes prior to first pitch. Saturday's game will be televised nationally on the CSTV Network (College Sports Television) and is available on Direct TV Channel 610. Kevin Kugler (play-by-play) and Adrain Fiala (color) will call the game for CSTV.
Texas Tech enters the series against Nebraska with an overall record of 18-11 and stands at 1-4 in the Big 12 Conference. The Red Raiders, who suffered a doubleheader shutout at the hands of No. 2 Texas on Saturday, got back in the win column on Wednesday with a 17-5 win over Howard Payne. The game with Howard Payne was added on Tuesday to help make up for one of the two rainouts Tech has suffered this season. The series finale against Texas was also rained out so the Red Raiders will be adding another home game in the near future.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers enter the weekend series with a 23-5 overall record and currently lead the Big 12 with a 5-1 mark in league play. The Huskers, ranked as high as 12th in the ESPN Coaches/Baseball Weekly Poll, swept two games from New Mexico on Monday and Tuesday to extend their win streak to eight games. Nebraska swept Kansas State over the weekend and took two games from Kansas in its Big 12 opener two weeks ago. Nebraska is coached by Mike Anderson who is in his second season at the helm.
The Tech-Nebraska Series
Nebraska won the first-ever meeting between the two schools 8-3 back on March 26, 1990 but Tech went on to win seven of the next eight contests to take a 7-2 advantage in the series. Nebraska, however, has had the upper hand lately as the Huskers have won 12 of the last 16 games and now lead the series 14-11. Texas Tech has not won a series against Nebraska since the 1997 season when the Red Raiders swept 3-0 in Lubbock.
A Look At Nebraska
The Nebraska Cornhuskers enter the weekend series against Texas Tech on an eight-game win streak and stand at 23-5 on the year. The Huskers are ranked in all four major college baseball polls and rank as high as 12th.
Nebraska, the defending Big 12 Regular-Season Champion, returns seven position players and nine pitchers from last year's team that went 47-18. The team is currently on an eight-game win streak that began in the second game of a doubleheader against Kansas as the Huskers won 13-3. The eight-game streak is the second of the season for Nebraska as the Huskers also won eight straight between March 14 and March 28.
Nebraska is currently batting .304 as a team and has 54 doubles, four triples and 27 home runs. The leading hitter for Nebraska is third baseman and Golden Spikes Award Candidate Alex Gordon. Gordon is hitting .392 and leads the team with 10 doubles, two triples, 11 home runs and 44 RBI.
The Husker pitching staff has a combined ERA of 3.08 and has allowed just 86 earned runs in 251.0 innings of work. The leader hurler is Zach Kroenke who is 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA through 47 2/3 innings. Mike Sillman leads the squad with three saves and has an ERA of 2.45.
Dan Law Field Gets Honor From S.I.
Dan Law Field has always been considered one of the most difficult places to play in the entire nation and on Wednesday a national publication added more credibility to that claim. Sports Illustrated On Campus listed Dan Law Field as one of the top places in the nation to catch a college baseball game. The magazine listed six schools that have "gems that sparkle with fervent fans and bodacious ballplayers....." Dan Law Field has a seating capacity of 5,050 and Tech consistently ranks in the Top 15 in national home attendance.
The List According To Sports Illustrated
1. Texas A&M, Olsen Field
2. Texas Tech, Dan Law Field
3. Mississippi State, Duty Noble Field
4. LSU, Alex Box Stadium
5. Stanford, Sunken Diamond
6. Florida State, Dick Howser Stadium
Tech To Play West Texas A&M Tuesday
Texas Tech will play West Texas A&M on Tuesday, April 13 at 6:30 p.m. at Dan Law Field. The game has been added in order to make up for a rainout between Texas Tech and Texas over the weekend. Season ticket holders will receive free admission.
Briefly
- Texas Tech is currently in the middle of a school record conference series losing streak. Tech has now lost nine consecutive Big 12 series snapping a string of eight Southwest Conference series losses between 1988 and 1989. Tech's last Big 12 series win came against Texas A&M last season March 21-23 when the Red Raiders took 2-of-3 at Dan Law Field.
- Texas Tech's last Friday night Big 12 win came against Nebraska last season when the Red Raiders took the first game 16-9 on April 25. Nebraska went on to take the final two games to pick up the series win.
- Texas Tech's last win in Lincoln came in the final game of the three-game series in 2002 when Tech avoided being swept with a 4-3 win on March 23.
- Texas Tech's back-to-back home shutouts this weekend marked the first time since 1975 that the Red Raiders had been blanked in back-to-back games at Dan Law Field. Texas A&M swept a doubleheader 4-0 and 1-0 on April 11, 1975.
- Junior first baseman Josh Brady picked up his 10th home run of the season on Wednesday in the game against Howard Payne. Brady ranks third in the Big 12 behind Travis Metcalfe (12) of Kansas and Alex Gordon (11) of Nebraska.
- Michael Mask's seven RBI against Howard Payne was the most by a Tech player since Gera Alvarez picked up seven against Baylor on May 19, 2002.
- Texas Tech currently has an unofficial RPI of 49 according to Boydsworld.com. Nebraska is ranked 25th.
On Deck
Texas Tech will open up an eight-game home stand on Tuesday as the Red Raiders take on West Texas A&M. The makeup game against the Buffaloes will get underway at 6:30 p.m. Tech will then play back-to-back Big 12 series against Kansas State and Oklahoma. Friday's game against Kansas State will be the annual "Turn Back The Clock Night" promotion.
For tickets, please call 1-888-GOBIG12 or log on to www.texastech.com.
