RED RAIDERS WRAP UP REGULAR-SEASON AT HOME
Texas Tech will put the finishing touches on the 2009 regular-season at home this weekend as the Red Raiders host the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Dan Law Field. The three-game series will end the regular-season for both teams but the Red Raiders still have the conference tournament looming on the horizon next week. The series gets underway at 6:30 p.m. on Friday night and will continue at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Saturday's game has been scheduled for 1 p.m. so there that there will not be a conflict with the Big 12 Conference Track & Field Meet being held next door at the Terry & Linda Fuller Track. The series concludes at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Advance tickets are available for purchase online at www.texastech.com or by calling the ticket office at (806) 742-TECH. WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
Tech fans have plenty to look forward to this weekend as the Red Raiders play their final home series against Oklahoma State. Friday night's game will be "Red Raider Club Night At the Ballpark" with special incentives for Red Raider Club members. Saturday's game will be the "At-Bat For The Cure Game" as Tech Baseball supports the work of the Susan G. Komen For The Cure. Texas Tech Baseball will hold its annual senior day on Sunday afternoon as Tech will honor seven departing seniors. THE TEXAS TECH - OKLAHOMA STATE SERIES
Texas Tech will be looking for its second-straight Big 12 series win this weekend against Oklahoma State. The Cowboys lead the all-time series 26-20 and have won eight of the last 10 meetings. A three-game sweep by the Cowboys at Dan Law Field in 2007 gave them an 11-10 advantage over the Red Raiders in Lubbock. Oklahoma State won last year's series in Stillwater, 2-1. SCOUTING THE COWBOYS
Oklahoma State comes into the weekend series fighting for its life as the Cowboys are in danger of missing a conference tournament for the first time in 32 years. OSU needs a sweep of Texas Tech and a Nebraska sweep of Baylor in order to qualify for next week's tournament in Oklahoma City. A win by Tech or Baylor will officially end the Cowboy's chances of making the tournament. The Cowboys are 30-21 on the season and 7-15 in Big 12 play and carry an unofficial RPI of No. 25 heading into the weekend. Offensively, the Cowboys own a .299 team batting average and are led by Tyrone Hambly's .337 clip. Hambly has played in all 51 games of the season and has posted seven home runs and 34 RBIs. Neil Medchill is the home run and RBI leader with 12 and 50, respectively. On the mound, Oklahoma State owns a 4.50 team earned run average with closer Randy McCurry leading the way with a 2.71 ERA along with a 2-1 record and nine saves. Saturday starter Tyler Lyons (Frenship H.S. product) is 5-5 with a 3.79 ERA over 76 innings pitched. RED RAIDERS ON THE AIR
Texas Tech's entire schedule in 2009 including both regular-season and post-season action will be carried live on the flagship station of the Texas Tech Sports Network, KKAM-1340. The Texas Tech Sports Network begins its 16th season of full coverage of Red Raider Baseball. Robert Giovannetti will handle the play-by-play duties for the second year in a row and will be assisted by Matt Miller and Daren Hays. Network pregame coverage begins 30 minutes prior to first pitch and concludes with a postgame show. Live audio streams will be available for all road games through RaiderVision All-Access while live video/audio will be available for all home games. SHORT HOPS
- Due to the quick turnaround between this weekend and the conference tournament (begins on Wednesday), AJ Ramos will not start during the weekend series against the Cowboys. Ramos is being held to give him plenty of rest heading into the tournament.
- Sophomore Chad Bettis recorded his seventh save of the season at Dallas Baptist and that moved him into a tie for fourth place on the school's career saves list. His seven career saves has him in a tie with Mark Johnston (1976-79) and Kevin Tracey (1999-2000).
- Tech won its first Big 12 game of the season on Saturday without the assistance of sophomore reliever Chad Bettis ... prior to the 12-6 win over KSU, Bettis had pitched in all 10 of Tech's league wins.
- Senior first baseman Chris Richburg took over the team lead in home runs in the series finale at Kansas State. Richburg hit two home runs against the Wildcats for his second multiple home run game of the season. His 13 home runs are tied for fourth in the Big 12 and seven of them have come in Big 12 play.
- Sophomore catcher Jeremy Mayo ranks second in the Big 12 having caught 21 base runners trying to steal ... Oklahoma's J.T. Wise leads the league with 27 while Baylor's Greg Glime is third with 18.
- The Tech offense has had success against Big 12 ace's this year as the Red Raiders have a combined .353 average against Friday night starters ... the .353 average goes along with 38 runs scored and Tech has given Texas A&M's Brooks Raley (7-1) and Kansas State's AJ Morris (11-1) their only losses of the season.
- Texas Tech finished the regular-season with 32 road games (most in the Big 12 Conference) while this weekend's home series against OSU will be just the 20th, 21st and 22nd games at Dan Law Field in 2009.
- Texas Tech has 10 wins over ranked opponents this season, including four over teams ranked in the Top 10.
- A midweek win over Dallas Baptist and a series win at No. 10 Kansas State has vaulted Tech's unofficial RPI up 22 spots in just over a week. The Red Raiders went into the game at DBU with an RPI of 101 and now stand at 78.
- Texas Tech has loaded the bases on four different occasions and has been unable to drive in a single run. The latest was on April 1 in Albuquerque when Tech loaded them up in the fourth only to allow UNM reliever Ryan Escarcega to retire three straight batters without allowing a run.
- Texas Tech has surpassed its sacrifice hit total from last season as the Red Raiders now have 45 in 2009. Tech managed just 36 sacrifice bunts in all of 2008.
RED RAIDERS ARE THINKING PINK
The Texas Tech Baseball program has adopted the Susan G. Komen Foundation as its philanthropy in 2008-09 and are looking forward to a long relationship with the organization. The Susan G. Komen Foundation's mission to raise awareness and help put an end to breast cancer, which takes the lives of thousands of women each year. Back in October, the squad served as race volunteers for the Lubbock Race For The Cure Event and this spring the Red Raiders will start a new tradition at Dan Law Field. Texas Tech Baseball and the Lubbock chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation will host "At-bat For The Cure Day" at Dan Law Field on Saturday, May 16. Tech players and coaches will wear special pink hats to help raise awareness for breast cancer research and take part in a variety of other activities. BIG 12 TOURNEY BOUND
The Texas Tech Baseball team clinched its first berth in the Big 12 Conference Championship (tournament) for the first time in three years this past weekend at Kansas State. Tech's series win over the Wildcats combined with an Oklahoma series win over Oklahoma State clinched a bid for the Red Raiders. Tech has missed the conference tournament each of the last two seasons with its last appearance coming back in 2006.
- Only six players on this year's team have been part of a conference tournament (Chris Richburg, Willie Rueda, Brian Cloud, AJ Ramos, Cory Large and Miles Morgan).
- A sweep by Tech, a sweep by Oklahoma and series win by Kansas State would give the Red Raiders a fifth-place finish in the league.
- In order to finish in seventh place ahead of Baylor, Tech needs to win one more game than the Bears (at Nebraska) this weekend.
- Should Tech finish eighth in the standings, it would mark the third-straight time that the Red Raiders entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed.
THE CURSE HAS BEEN REVERSED
To say that the Red Raiders have been cursed on the road is putting it mildly, but last weekend in Manhattan, Kan., that all came to an end. And it couldn't have come at a better time. Tech dropped No. 10 Kansas State 6-0 in the series opener on Friday night and then stunned the Big 12 with a 12-6 series clinching win on Saturday afternoon. The win ended a five-year, 23-series road losing streak for the Red Raiders as Tech earned its first road series win since defeating Oklahoma State in Stillwater at the end of 2004.
- No current player on the roster had ever been part of a road series win. Chris Richburg and Brian Cloud were seniors in high school while AJ Ramos was a junior.
- During that five-year stretch, there had been two presidential elections, the Boston Red Sox won two world series (reversing their own curse) and Brett Favre retired three times.
KENWORTHY LEADING THE WAY
Junior shortstop Joey Kenworthy may be one of the smallest (if not the smallest) players in the Big 12 but his size certainly doesn't dictate his ability. Kenworthy is Tech's leading hitter with a .357 average and also leads the squad with an impressive 24 multiple-hit games.
- Currently riding a career-high, 10-game hit streak.
- His .357 average ranks eight in the Big 12 while his 74 hits ranks fifth.
- His .365 average in Big 12 play ranks eighth while his 35 hits in the league rank third.
| 
