Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Welcomes Iowa State for Three-Game Series
April 21, 2016 | Softball
Red Raiders blasted their 43 home run of the season Wednesday and will look for more this weekend against ISU.
April 21, 2016
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Texas Tech will return to Big 12 play with a three-game series against Iowa State beginning with a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday. Game two is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday with the final game of the series slated for noon Sunday.Texas Tech will look to reach the 20 win plateau for the seventh consecutive season in Friday's contest. The Red Raiders have won 20 or more games every season since 2010, and have twice reached 40 wins.
The Red Raiders have turned a league leading 18 double plays. Texas Tech turned five double plays last weekend in their three-game series against Kansas. In conference play, Texas Tech and Texas lead the Big 12 with seven double plays.
Senior Jordan Bettiol recorded her 21st stolen base of the season during the three-game stand in Lawrence this past weekend. The 21 stolen bases in 2016 tied Bettiol with Sandy Butler (2000) and Lea Hopson (2014) for sixth all-time in Red Raider softball history in stolen bases in a single season.
The Red Raiders are off to the races again this season, ranking among the league leaders in stolen bases. So far this season Texas Tech has stolen 52 bases on 74 attempts. The Red Raiders are averaging just under one stolen base per game in conference play.
Texas Tech has proven through the first two thirds of the season that they are a formidable long ball threat. The Red Raiders have blasted 42 homeruns in 2016 including nine homers in the last in the month of April. The 42 homeruns on the season is second in the Big 12 to Oklahoma's 47 homers this season.
Jessica Hartwell launched her sixth home run of the season to pull the Red Raiders' home run total to 43 on the season. Of those 43 home runs, 12 have come from true freshman in the Red Raider lineup.
INSIDE THE SERIES
The Red Raiders will look to continue their recent success against Iowa State this weekend as Texas Tech enters the series having won seven of the past 10 games against the Cyclones dating back to the 2012 season. Tech has won each of the past five series against the Cyclones, sweeping a two-game set in 2011 and then a three-game series in 2012 before taking two-of-three games the past three seasons.
Tech controls a 28-16 all-time advantage in the series with Iowa State, including a 14-6 mark in games played in Lubbock. The Red Raiders enter the series needing to turn the tides in their Big 12 season. After sweeping Oklahoma State to begin conference play, the Red Raiders have dropped back-to-back conference road series leading into this weekend.
Iowa State has not claimed a regular-season series against the Red Raiders since the 2002 season when the Cyclones swept a two-game series in Lubbock. Tech's .636 winning percentage against Iowa State is its highest against any current Big 12 opponent.
