No. 5 Texas Tech Holds Off Abilene Christian, 7-2

Tuesday, May 10

Abilene, Texas

6:30 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

38-13

Abilene Christian

14-31

Texas Tech

Abilene Christian

No. 5 Texas Tech Holds Off Abilene Christian, 7-2

May 10, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score Stats

ABILENE, Texas -- No. 5 Texas Tech broke up a tie game with an unearned run in the eighth inning and then four more in the ninth Tuesday night as the Red Raiders scored a 7-2 victory over Abilene Christian at Crutcher Scott Field.

The victory marked the second time this season where the Red Raiders (38-13) used the final few innings to edge the Wildcats (14-31) as Tech previously topped ACU, 5-4, in a walk-off win on April 27 in Midland.

The Red Raiders took advantage of three ACU errors over the final two frames en route to improve to 11-4 this season in midweek games while also extending their winning streak to 12 straight over the Wildcats.

Tyler Neslony scored the game-winning run in the eighth as he scurried all the way around from first as ACU dropped a high fly ball on the edge of the infield with two outs in the inning. Neslony reached base via a two-out single earlier in the frame, marking the 12th-consecutive start where he has recorded a hit.

Tanner Gardner drove in Tech's first of four runs in the ninth before coming around to score himself later off a two-out, two-run single to left field from Cory Raley. Tech loaded the bases earlier in the frame off walks to Michael Davis and Stephen Smith and a single from Orlando Garcia.

Raley led the Red Raiders at the plate, finishing 2-for-5 overall with a pair of RBI and two stolen bases. He scored Tech's first run of the evening as he led off the fourth inning with a single and then came across on a two-out RBI single from Hunter Hargrove.

Gardner matched Raley with two RBI, the second of which that came on a leadoff home run to start the sixth inning. It was the third home run of the season for Gardner, who landed a 2-1 pitch in the ACU bullpen in right field.

ACU scored both of its runs in the second inning after a RBI single from Aaron Draper and a two-out RBI single from Russell Crippen. Draper finished 2-for-3 overall for two of ACU's eight hits off the Tech pitching staff.

The Tech bullpen tossed 7.1 shutout innings of relief in the win as the Red Raiders surrendered just four hits while striking out eight Wildcats during that span.

Ryan Moseley (6-4) earned the win for the Red Raiders after giving up just a hit over his 1.2 innings. Moseley, who also picked up the win this past Sunday at Kansas, inherited a runner on second when he entered in the seventh but worked out of trouble with a strikeout and a ground ball to end the frame.

Brandon Lambright (0-2) suffered the loss for the Wildcats after giving up an unearned run off a hit and a strikeout. He was the second reliever called on for starter Nate Cole, who surrendered two runs off five hits in his six innings of work.

ACU came close to tying the game in the bottom of the eighth off a two-out single into right field from Draper that sent Mark Pearson around third and scampering to the plate. Smith fired home, however, catching Pearson by a step for the final out of the inning.

Hayden Howard struck out the side in the ninth to push Tech's winning streak to five straight heading into its regular-season finale against West Virginia on May 19-21.

The Red Raiders will take a week off for finals before facing the Mountaineers. All three games of the West Virginia series will air on the FOX Sports networks, beginning with a 6:30 p.m. first pitch on May 19.