Texas Tech University Athletics
Undefeated Red Raiders Host Brooks Wallace Memorial Classic
February 24, 2010 | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2010
2010 BROOKS WALLACE MEMORIAL CLASSIC
Texas Tech, Washington State, Bethune-Cookman
Thursday, Feb. 25 - Sunday, Feb. 28
Dan Law Field, Lubbock, Texas
4 p.m./4 p.m./4 p.m./Noon
Brooks Wallace Classic Preview | Tournament Schedule
 | MEDIA COVERAGE |
Television - None
Network Radio - Texas Tech Sports Network
Live Audio/Video - RaiderVision All-Access
Gameday Information - Gameday Central
Texas Tech Notes | Bethune-Cookman Notes | Washington State Notes | Big 12 Notes
| | NOTING THE RED RAIDERS |
 Texas Tech hosts the Brooks Wallace Memorial Classic.  | |
Texas Tech continues its season-opening homestand this weekend as the Red Raiders host the Brooks Wallace Memorial Classic at Dan Law Field. The Brooks Wallace Classic honors the memory of former Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace and will become an annual event at Dan Law Field. Three teams will comprise this year's tournament field including 2009 NCAA Tournament teams Bethune-Cookman and Washington State along with the host Red Raiders. The three-day round robin event gets underway at 4 p.m. on Thursday when Tech faces off against Bethune-Cookman. Two games will be held on both Friday and Saturday while Tech and Washington State will wrap up the tournament with a noon first pitch on Sunday. Advance tickets for the tournament can be purchased online at www.texastech.com or by calling (806) 742-TECH.
RANKINGS
None of the three teams participating in the Red Raider Classic are ranked by the USA TODAY/ESPN TOP 25 Coaches Poll, Baseball America or the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers).
TEXAS TECH SPORTS NETWORK
All 56 regular-season games will be carried live by Learfield Sports on the Texas Tech Sports Network. Red Raiders fans can listen to all the action on Double T 104.3 (the flagship station of the Texas Tech Sports Network) in Lubbock or KHOB 1390 AM in Hobbs, N.M. Fans outside of the above listening areas can tune in via the world wide web at texastech.com and purchase a monthly subscription to RaiderVision All-Access. Robert Giovannetti returns to the broadcast booth for his third season as the play-by-play voice while Daren Hays joins the network as the full-time color analyst.
GAMEDAY CENTRAL
Red Raider fans unable to make it out to the ballpark can follow Texas Tech baseball games anywhere in the world through Gameday Central at texastech.com. Live scoring, audio and video (video only available for home games and select road games), a live game blog and twitter updates can all be found at Gameday Central. Comprehensive parking, weather, tailgating, security and ticket information can also be found in this convenient location.
THE SERIES
The Brooks Wallace Memorial Classic will feature one new opponent for Texas Tech in Bethune-Cookman while Tech and Washington State will be meeting for just the second time. Bethune-Cookman will be the 151st different team to make an appearance in the Texas Tech annals when the Red Raiders face the Wildcats on Thursday afternoon. Tech and Washington State have met only once on the diamond when the Cougars earned a 9-3 victory in the 1986 Lubbock Intercollegiate Tournament held at Dan Law Field.
BROOKS WALLACE MEMORIAL CLASSIC NOTES
- Texas Tech will be hosting the Brooks Wallace Memorial Classic for the first time. The tournament is named after former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace and several members of the Wallace family will be recognized on the field prior to the Tech-Washington State game on Friday.
- A total of six games will be played over the span of four days in a round-robin style format. All games will be played at Dan Law Field and an all-tournament team will be announced on Sunday.
- Texas Tech will be facing a team from the MEAC (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) for the first time since the 2001 season when the Red Raiders hosted the Howard Bison. The Red Raiders will be facing a team from the Pac-10 for the second consecutive season as Tech played Oregon State in last year's Palm Springs Invitational. Tech is 6-0 all-time against the MEAC and 15-35 against the Pac-10. Washington State is the first Pac-10 team to play at Dan Law Field since Arizona State made a midweek trip here in 2006.
- Neither Bethune-Cookman nor Washington State have a single player on its roster from the state of Texas.
WHO WAS BROOKS WALLACE?
Brooks Wallace was a slick-fielding shortstop at Texas Tech from 1977 to 1980. A four-year starter, he was named All-Southwest Conference and All-District his senior year. He led the Red Raiders to their first-ever appearance in the Southwest Conference Tournament in 1980.
After playing two years in the Texas Rangers organization, he returned to Texas Tech and served as a graduate assistant and later as an assistant coach. In the summer of 1984, he was diagnosed with cancer and fought the disease courageously until his death on March 24, 1985, at age 27. The Plano, Texas, native was married to the former Sandy Arnold and they had one daughter, Lindsay Ryan.
Each year the College Baseball Foundation, located here in Lubbock, bestows the Brooks Wallace Award to the nation's top shortstop.
SCOUTING BETHUNE-COOKMAN
Bethune-Cookman, an NCAA regional team from 2009, comes to Lubbock in the midst of a eight game, coast-to-coast road swing that began in California and will wrap up at Dan Law Field. The Wildcats are 1-3 on the season after dropping two games to Cal-State Northridge, one against No. 23 UCLA and a midweek game at UC-Riverside. The Wildcats only win of the season was a 13-8 decision over Southern. Bethune-Cookman opened its season in Compton, Calif., as part of the MLB Urban Classic where they faced off against Northridge, UCLA and Southern.
As a team, the Wildcats own a .248 team batting average and are led by Ryan Durrence who has posted a .400 clip in four games. The staff earned run average stands at 7.15 with Ray Gonzalez leading the way with a 3.00 ERA through six innings. The Wildcats are coach by Mervyl Melendez.
SCOUTING WASHINGTON STATE
Washington State will make its first trip to Lubbock since 1986 when the Cougars open up play in the Brooks Wallace Memorial Classic on Friday afternoon against Bethune-Cookman. This will mark the second straight season that the Cougars have made a trek to the state of Texas as they participated in the 2009 Academy Sports & Outdoors Rice Classic at Reckling Park. The Cougars opened up their 2010 campaign last weekend with a two-game sweep (11-6 and 23-0) of Seattle at Bailey-Brayton Field in Pullman.
The Cougars, a 2009 NCAA regional team, head south with a team batting average of .405 after blasting the Seattle pitching staff to a tune of 34 runs and 34 hits. Matt Argyropoulos is the leading hitter with a .667 clip and is also tied for the team-high with four RBIs. The Cougar pitching staff holds a 3.00 earned run average.
TECH-NEW MEXICO POSTPONED
Texas Tech and New Mexico were scheduled to play on Tuesday, Feb. 23, but that game was postponed due to inclement weather. The Red Raiders would have faced off against a New Mexico squad that went to Austin over the weekend and took 2-of-3 from No. 1 Texas.
BETTIS NAMED BIG 12 CO-PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Junior right-hander Chad Bettis was named the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday for his performance on Opening Day against Jacksonville State. He shared the honor with Baylor RHP Shawn Tolleson.
Bettis, a product of Lubbock Monterey High School, was spectacular for the Red Raiders in their season opener against Jacksonville State on Friday. He retired the first 13 Gamecock batters he faced and tossed six shutout frames before allowing his only run of the night in the seventh inning. In all, Bettis allowed just one run on four hits and two walks while striking out four over seven innings of work.
NINE-GAME HOMESTAND
Texas Tech will open up the 2010 season with a nine-game homestand marking the longest home stint since 2008 when the Red Raiders played 10-straight at home between March 20-April 2. The homestand was originally scheduled to be 10 games but Tech and New Mexico were forced to postpone its midweek matchup on Feb. 23.
BARNES IMPRESSIVE IN COLLEGIATE DEBUT
Freshman right fielder Barrett Barnes had Red Raider Nation buzzing this past weekend after he turned in the best debut by a freshman since Roger Kieschnick in 2006. In the season opener against Jacksonville State, Barnes piled up three hits, including two home runs and a game-high six RBIs to lead Tech to an 8-3 win over the Gamecocks. He became the first Red Raider freshman to hit a home run and drive in six runs in a debut since Kieschnick did so against Louisana-Monroe back in 2006. In all, Barnes tallied nine RBIs on the weekend along with a .400 batting average and was named the Red Raider Classic's most valuable player. His nine RBIs, two home runs and seven runs scored currently lead the Big 12 Conference.
STARTING PITCHERS "DEAL" IN RED RAIDER CLASSIC
Texas Tech got outstanding starting pitching performances in all four games of the Red Raider Classic, including one that was awarded the Big 12 Co-Pitcher of the Week honor. Starters Chad Bettis, Bobby Doran, Louis Head and Jordan Stern combined for 17 shutout innings while allowing just three total earned runs. The three runs allowed over 21 innings gave Tech starters a 1.29 ERA. Chad Bettis posted seven innings of work while Bobby Doran and Louis Head each went five and Jordan Stern closed out the weekend with four shutout frames against Jacksonville State.
2010 SCHEDULE IS NO CAKE WALK
Texas Tech has a daunting task ahead of them in 2010 as Boyd Nation of boydsworld.com has calculated the Red Raider's strength of schedule at No. 11 nationally. Tech has the third toughest schedule amongst Big 12 schools behind No. 1 Baylor and No. 9 Texas A&M. No. 19 Kansas, No. 20 Texas and No. 25 Missouri round out the top 25 from the Big 12. In all, the Red Raiders will face 14 teams on the slate that advanced to last year's NCAA Tournament.
Boydnation.com Top 11 (Preseason Strength of Schedule)
1. Baylor
2. UCLA
3. Washington
4. San Diego
5. USC
6. Stanford
7. Long Beach State
8. Georgia
9. Texas A&M
10. California
11. TEXAS TECH
RED RAIDERS THANKFUL FOR EXTRA WEEK
The NCAA gave schools all across the country a little bit of breathing room in 2010 as the spring schedule will now cover 56 games in 13 weeks as compared to 12 weeks in 2009. The week long extension, opposed by only a few, will reduce the number of two-game series in the midweek and should hopefully increase the amount of time spent in the classroom. As a result, Texas Tech will only play four two-game midweek series in 2010 as opposed to the seven played last season. The future of NCAA baseball could see the extra week being given at the end of the season which would move the College World Series back one week.
NEW FACES ON THE MOUND
The 2010 season will bring about several new faces on the mound for the Red Raiders as eight new pitchers will join six returning letterman to make up the Texas Tech staff. A total of five transfers will be called upon to help make an immediate impact and they will be joined by two newcomers from the high school ranks and one who completed a redshirt in 2009. Transfers Bobby Doran, Brett Bruening and Jay Johnson are expected to figure into major roles on the staff with Doran and Bruening taking up starting roles with Johnson serving as the closer. Sophomore Louis Head, who spent most of his freshman season as a middle reliever, is expected to be a midweek starter but could also earn a spot on the weekend.
