Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Battle Kansas State In Weekend Series
April 14, 2005 | Baseball
April 14, 2005
Texas Tech (23-11; 5-6) vs. Kansas State (15-16; 2-10)April 15-17, 2005 - 7 p.m./2 p.m./1 p.m.
Tointon Family Stadium - Manhattan, Kan.
Complete Texas Tech Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Complete Kansas State Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Texas Tech vs. Kansas State - Gameday Central
RED RAIDERS LOOK TO BUILD ON MOMENTUM AGAINST KANSAS STATE
Texas Tech will be looking to build on a crucial Big 12 series win over Oklahoma State as the Red Raiders travel north to take on the Kansas State Wildcats. Texas Tech and Kansas State will play a three-game series beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Tointon Family Stadium. The series continues at 2 p.m. on Saturday before wrapping up at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Texas Tech is coming off a huge series win against Oklahoma State and it was no easy task as the Raiders had to score seven runs in the bottom of the eighth to claim the series win 2-1. Tech dropped the opener on Friday night before evening the series with a 12-8 win on Saturday. Tech now stands in sixth place in the Big 12 standings with a 5-6 overall record in league play. Tech is just one game behind Texas who is in fifth place with a 6-5 mark.
The Red Raiders pushed their overall record to 23-11 after posting a 10-6 win over Hardin-Simmons on Wednesday afternoon at Dan Law Field. The game was added last week to makeup for one of two games that were cancelled due to weather. The Hardin-Simmons game will be the last makeup game for Tech unless a future contest is cancelled.
Kansas State enters the weekend with an overall record of 15-16 after dropping a 6-1 decision to William Jewel (NAIA) on Wednesday evening. The Wildcats are currently 10th in the Big 12 standings with a league record of 2-10. Kansas State suffered a three-game sweep this past weekend at Baylor just days after posting a 5-3 win over No. 1 Texas in Austin.
The weekend series will kick off a Texas-Kansas clash as the Red Raiders will host the Kansas Jayhawks in a three-game series next weekend at Dan Law Field. The Texas Tech-Kansas series will be the reunion weekend for the 1995 team, which is the winningest team in school history.
Tickets for the weekend series in Manhattan can be purchased by calling the Kansas State Athletics Ticket Office at 1-800-221-CATS.
ANOTHER BIG INNING
The "Comeback Kids" did it again. Texas Tech found itself on the verge of a backbreaking series loss to Oklahoma State on Sunday after allowing the Cowboys to break a 3-3 tie with six runs in the top of the eighth inning. With the season on the brink, the Red Raider offense came to life in the bottom half of the eighth as Tech plated seven runs of its own and escaped with a 10-9 win that clinched the series.
The comeback win was Tech's fifth of the season and the most dramatic since a nine-run rally against UC-Irvine back on March 12. Tech was down, ironically, 9-3 in the bottom of the sixth when the bats exploded for nine runs and the Red Raiders went on to win 14-10.
Sunday's come-from-behind win against OSU marked the second straight time Tech has rallied in the series finale against the Cowboys. Last season in Stillwater, Tech had just one hit on the afternoon and was down 7-2 in the top of the ninth inning. Four home runs and nine runs later, Texas Tech earned a crucial series win over the Pokes 2-1.
BLAIR EARNS BIG 12 HONORS
The Big 12 Conference announced on Tuesday that senior shortstop Cameron Blair has been named the Phillips 66 Co-Big 12 Player of the Week following an outstanding weekend against the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Blair, a senior from Dallas, helped lead the Red Raiders to a crucial 2-1 series win over the Cowboys this past weekend at Dan Law Field. Blair finished the weekend with a .500 clip after going 5-for-10 with four walks, a double, two stolen bases, three home runs and five RBI. He became the first Red Raider to tally back-to-back seasons with double-digit home runs since Nick Blankenship back in 2001 and 2002.
Blair shared the weekly honor with outfielder Gus Milner of Kansas while the pitcher of the week went to J. Brent Cox of the University of Texas.
LANCE BROWN JOINS TECH STAFF
Texas Tech Head Baseball Coach Larry Hays announced today that former TCU head coach Lance Brown will join the staff immediately as the volunteer pitching coach.
"Lance is a very good friend of mine and one of the best pitching coaches around," said Hays. "We are fortunate to have him come and join our program and I really think our kids are going to gain from his experience. Lance was one of the best pitchers to ever play in the Southwest Conference and he is an even better coach."
Current volunteer assistant Brandon Roberson and director of baseball operations Bobby Sherrard will remain on the staff but will both move into new positions. The exact titles of these positions will be announced at later time once final details have been negotiated.
Brown comes to Texas Tech after spending 17 seasons at the helm of the Horned Frog baseball program where he remains the school's all-time winningest head coach with a record of 517-471.
TECH vs. KANSAS STATE
Texas Tech and Kansas State will be meeting for the 27th, 28th and 29th times this weekend as the Red Raiders and Wildcats play a three-game series at Tointon Stadium in Manhattan. Texas Tech leads the all-time series 19-7 and has a record of 7-4 in Manhattan.
The two teams first met back in 1993 when Tech took a 3-2 decision in the Johnny Quick Classic in Fresno, Calif. Tech and KSU began playing regularly in 1997 with the formation of the Big 12 Conference and the Red Raiders are 18-7 against the Wildcats in league play. Kansas State claimed the last series played in Manhattan when the Wildcats took 2-of-3 from Tech back in the 2003 season. The Red Raiders have won four straight against the Wildcats after taking the Sunday game in 2003 (April 20) and then a series sweep at Dan Law Field last season.
FULLER MOVES INTO THIRD PLACE
Senior center fielder Cody Fuller moved into third place on the school's all-time stolen base list on Wednesday in the 10-6 win over Hardin-Simmons. Fuller stole two bags against the Cowboys and that was enough to give him 74 in his four year career. He surpasses Kent Blassingame (1991-92) and Clint Bryant (1993-96) who had 73 in their Red Raider career's.
The move to third place was not an easy one for Fuller as he went through a stretch of 15 games without a stolen bag. During that 15 game stretch, Fuller was 0-for-7 on the base paths and slipped from first in the Big 12 to third. He needs 12 stolen bases to move into second place all-time and 24 to take over first.
BLAIR STARTS HOME RUN CLIMB
Senior shortstop Cameron Blair has begun to climb the career home run list at Texas Tech. This weekend against Oklahoma State, Blair tallied three home runs to give him 11 on the season and 25 in his two-year career. His 25 home runs ranks eighth on the career list at Tech and seven more dingers will move him into seventh place.
Blair has hit three grand slams in each of his two seasons in a Red Raider uniform and he owns the Big 12 record for most grand slams in a career with six. The NCAA does not chart career grand slams but the single-season record is six by Alabama's Kyle Brian.
RAIDERS ON THE PROWL
Opposing pitchers and catchers--BEWARE--Tech is on the prowl again in 2005. After sporting the quickest team in the Big 12 in 2004, the Red Raiders are looking for a repeat. Texas Tech leads the league with 85 stolen bases and that is 25 more than second place Nebraska who has 60 on the year.
Tech has three players who rank in the conference's Top 8 in Chris Williams, Cody Fuller and Cameron Blair. Williams and Fuller are tied for second with 18 stolen bags while Blair is fifth with 15. The Red Raiders have averaged 110 stolen bases in each of the last four seasons.
DEFENSE WILL BE THE KEY
It is no secret that both Texas Tech and Kansas State have had problems defensively in 2005. The Red Raiders and Wildcats are tied for eighth in the Big 12 with identical fielding percentages of .958. The Red Raiders have 56 combined errors compared to 51 by Kansas State but Tech has had 108 more fielding chances than the Wildcats.
Texas Tech is 7-1 (only loss was at USC) this season when not committing an error while Kansas State is 1-5. In Big 12 play, KSU and Tech rank ninth and 10th respectively in fielding percentage with the Wildcats owning a .954 mark while Tech is at .942.
RED RAIDER TIDBITS
- The Red Raiders have won six-straight games on two different occasions this year. The longest losing streak was a three games stretch between March 20 and March 25. Tech's longest losing streak in Big 12 play was a five-game stretch that began on March 20 against Texas A&M.
- After falling to fourth place in overall team batting average, the Tech offense is starting to come back to life. Tech hit just .235 in a seven-game stretch following the Texas A&M series and watched its batting average drop from .339 to .316. However, in the last five games Tech has been hitting at a .317 clip and has moved into second place in the league with a .317 average.
- Senior shortstop Cameron Blair is on pace to tie or even surpass his home run total (14) from last season. Blair hit three home runs against Oklahoma State and now totals 11 on the season. His 11 home runs ranks second behind Oklahoma State's Adam Carr who has 15.
- Senior right-fielder Madison Edwards moved into second place on the all-time games played list at Texas Tech over the weekend. Edwards has played in 196 games during his career and that surpasses the mark of 195 set by Randy DuRoss between 1992 and 1995.
- Senior second baseman Carey Avants hit his first home run of the season on Wednesday against Hardin-Simmons. Avants led the Tech offense with four hits and three RBI and he now has an overall batting average of .340. In the last eight games, Avants has been Tech's hottest hitter with a .393 average (11-of-28) and eight RBI.
FROM THE HILL
- Junior right-hander Zach Butler earned his fifth win of the season on Sunday and is now tied with Billy Carnline for the team lead in wins. Butler sealed Sunday's 10-9 win over Oklahoma State by retiring the side in the top of the ninth.
- Junior southpaw Carleton Hargrove notched his fourth save of the season in Saturday's 12-8 win over OSU. Hargrove is tied with Kansas' Don Czyz for fourth place in the Big 12.
- Senior right-hander Tanner McElroy picked up his first win of the season on Saturday against the Cowboys. McElroy pitched 4 2/3 innings of shutout relief along with six strikeouts after bailing out Brian Wyatt in the third. McElroy's overall ERA dropped to 0.72 as he has allowed just two earned runs in 25 innings of work.
- Senior right-hander Adam Fry left Wednesday's game against Hardin-Simmons after dislocating his shoulder for the second time this season. His status for this weekend at Kansas State will be a game time decision.
