Friday, February 17
Starkville, MS
1 p.m.
Texas Tech Athletics
1-0
15
vs
1
Western Illinois
0-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Texas Tech
0
2
3
1
2
5
0
0
2
15
13
1
Western Illinois
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
6
1
No. 14 Tech Powers Past WIU, 15-1, In Season Opener
February 17, 2017 | Baseball
The Red Raiders racked up 13 hits, reached base safely 27 times in opening game.
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The No. 14 Texas Tech baseball team opened the 2017 campaign with a bang, motoring past Western Illinois, 15-1, in game one of the Opening Day doubleheader in Starkville, Mississippi.
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The Red Raiders (1-0) improved to 44-24 overall in their first game of the year, moving head coach Tim Tadlock's opening game record to 4-1. Friday afternoon's game was also the 150th win for Tadlock, making him the fastest coach in school history to reach the mark.
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Sophomore right-handed pitcher Davis Martin became just the third Opening Day starter under Tadlock, and put together a strong outing, tossing 6.0 innings, allowing just four hits and one run, while matching a career-high seven strikeouts. Martin opened with three scoreless frames before allowing a run to the Leathernecks (0-1) in the fourth, and followed it up with two more clean innings to end his day. It was the eighth time in his career to only allow one or fewer runs in a start.
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Sophomore Ty Harpenau (2.0) and freshman John McMillon (1.0) pitched the final three frames, both striking out three batters to shut the door on game one of the doubleheader.
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After a scoreless first inning from both sides, the Red Raider bats broke through and stayed hot over the next five innings, scoring at least one run in each frame to build a 13-1 lead by the end of the sixth. Freshman infielder Josh Jung tallied the first RBI of the season, scoring senior infielder Hunter Hargrove after he and junior designated hitter Zach Rheams began the second inning with back-to-back walks. Another freshman, infielder Grant Little, brought in the second run with a sacrifice fly to right field.
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Junior Michael Davis led off the third with a sharp single to right field, which was fulfilled by a two-run home run by Hargrove to deepest part of right-center to go ahead, 4-0. It was part of a career-high 4-for-5 game for Hargrove, who came just a triple shy of a cycle. He would drive in four runs, score two and draw a walk to go along with his four hit day.
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Later in the third, Rheams crossed the plate off a Little single through the left side of the infield. Tech chased Western Illinois starting left-handed pitcher J.T. Baksha after 3.0 innings, but would keep up the offensive outpour, as Rheams tallied a RBI in the fourth on a fielder's choice, scoring Davis, to go up 6-0.
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The Leathernecks posted their only run of the day in the bottom of the fourth behind a double to left-center by Deion Thompson to score Adam McGinnis.
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Tech earned the run back and added another thanks to doubles by Davis and Hargrove to move ahead, 8-1 through five innings. The Red Raiders capped their five-inning scoring streak with a five-run spattering in the top of the sixth, which began with a pitching change to Ben Sellers.
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Junior infielder Orlando Garcia picked up his first hit of the year in the sixth, smashing a three-run homer to score freshmen Michael Berglund and Little with no outs. A couple batters later, Davis and junior outfielder Tanner Gardner were standing on second and third, respectively, when Hargrove tomahawked a double off the middle of the left-center field wall to drive in Davis. Rheams, the next batter, sent a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in Gardner to complete the five-run frame with Tech ahead, 13-1.
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The Red Raiders added two more runs in the ninth, as Jung and Little crossed the plate to finish their 15-run explosion. It was the first time since May 6, 2014, the Red Raiders have scored 15 or more runs in a game.
Tech will return for game two of the Opening Day doubleheader at 5 p.m. on Friday against Mississippi State.
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The Red Raiders (1-0) improved to 44-24 overall in their first game of the year, moving head coach Tim Tadlock's opening game record to 4-1. Friday afternoon's game was also the 150th win for Tadlock, making him the fastest coach in school history to reach the mark.
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Sophomore right-handed pitcher Davis Martin became just the third Opening Day starter under Tadlock, and put together a strong outing, tossing 6.0 innings, allowing just four hits and one run, while matching a career-high seven strikeouts. Martin opened with three scoreless frames before allowing a run to the Leathernecks (0-1) in the fourth, and followed it up with two more clean innings to end his day. It was the eighth time in his career to only allow one or fewer runs in a start.
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Sophomore Ty Harpenau (2.0) and freshman John McMillon (1.0) pitched the final three frames, both striking out three batters to shut the door on game one of the doubleheader.
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After a scoreless first inning from both sides, the Red Raider bats broke through and stayed hot over the next five innings, scoring at least one run in each frame to build a 13-1 lead by the end of the sixth. Freshman infielder Josh Jung tallied the first RBI of the season, scoring senior infielder Hunter Hargrove after he and junior designated hitter Zach Rheams began the second inning with back-to-back walks. Another freshman, infielder Grant Little, brought in the second run with a sacrifice fly to right field.
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Junior Michael Davis led off the third with a sharp single to right field, which was fulfilled by a two-run home run by Hargrove to deepest part of right-center to go ahead, 4-0. It was part of a career-high 4-for-5 game for Hargrove, who came just a triple shy of a cycle. He would drive in four runs, score two and draw a walk to go along with his four hit day.
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Later in the third, Rheams crossed the plate off a Little single through the left side of the infield. Tech chased Western Illinois starting left-handed pitcher J.T. Baksha after 3.0 innings, but would keep up the offensive outpour, as Rheams tallied a RBI in the fourth on a fielder's choice, scoring Davis, to go up 6-0.
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The Leathernecks posted their only run of the day in the bottom of the fourth behind a double to left-center by Deion Thompson to score Adam McGinnis.
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Tech earned the run back and added another thanks to doubles by Davis and Hargrove to move ahead, 8-1 through five innings. The Red Raiders capped their five-inning scoring streak with a five-run spattering in the top of the sixth, which began with a pitching change to Ben Sellers.
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Junior infielder Orlando Garcia picked up his first hit of the year in the sixth, smashing a three-run homer to score freshmen Michael Berglund and Little with no outs. A couple batters later, Davis and junior outfielder Tanner Gardner were standing on second and third, respectively, when Hargrove tomahawked a double off the middle of the left-center field wall to drive in Davis. Rheams, the next batter, sent a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in Gardner to complete the five-run frame with Tech ahead, 13-1.
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The Red Raiders added two more runs in the ninth, as Jung and Little crossed the plate to finish their 15-run explosion. It was the first time since May 6, 2014, the Red Raiders have scored 15 or more runs in a game.
Tech will return for game two of the Opening Day doubleheader at 5 p.m. on Friday against Mississippi State.
Congrats to @TimTadlockTTU on picking up his 150th & 151st wins as head coach of #TexasTech today! #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/q58C9bZPtA
— Texas Tech Baseball (@TTU_Baseball) February 18, 2017
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Martin, Davis (1-0)
L: J.T. Baksha (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Davis, Michael 1 ; Hargrove, Hunter 2 ; Jung, Josh 1
HR: Hargrove, Hunter 1 ; Garcia, Orlando 1
RBI: Davis, Michael 1 ; Hargrove, Hunter 4 ; Rheams, Zach 2 ; Jung, Josh 1 ; Sanchez, Kholeton 1 ; Little, Grant 2 ; Garcia, Orlando 3
SF: Rheams, Zach 1 ; Little, Grant 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Warren, Cameron 1 ; Davis, Michael 4 ; Gardner, Tanner 1 ; Hargrove, Hunter 2 ; Rheams, Zach 2 ; Paradoski, Trevor 1 ; Jung, Josh 1 ; Berglund, Michael 1 ; Little, Grant 1 ; Garcia, Orlando 1
HBP: Rheams, Zach 1 ; Berglund, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: Deion Thompson 1 ; Mitch Ellis 1
RBI: Deion Thompson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Adam McGinnis 1
HBP: Johnathan Fleek 1 ; Adam McGinnis 1 ; Deion Thompson 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
2
H
4
RBI
4
AB
5
R
4
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
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INF
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INF/OF
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RHP
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RHP
/ Baseball
OF/C/INF/RHP
/ Baseball
INF
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