No. 10 Tech To Take On Three Top-15 Teams In Houston

Friday, March 3

Houston, Texas

3:35 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

Texas A&M

No. 10 Tech To Take On Three Top-15 Teams In Houston

March 02, 2017 | Baseball

Game Notes

The Red Raiders will face off against No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 8 Ole Miss & No. 2 LSU at the Shriners Classic.

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 10 Texas Tech baseball team will make their 10^th appearance at the 17^th annual Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic this weekend at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

The Red Raiders will take on old Big 12 foe No. 11 Texas A&M on Friday, March 3, at 3:35 p.m. in the opening mid-day matchup. Tech will have the early games on the final two days, taking on No. 8 Ole Miss at 12:05 p.m. on Saturday, followed by No. 2 LSU on Sunday at 10:05 a.m.

All three games will be broadcast on the FOX Sports Networks, with the first two games airing on FOX Sports Southwest Plus, and the Sunday finale on FOX Sports Southwest. This weekend's matchups can also be heard on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM.

February was a good month for the Red Raiders, as they opened the season with a 9-1 record. Tech began the 2017 campaign on the road in Starkville, splitting their two-game set with Mississippi State and sweeping Western Illinois. The Red Raiders returned home to and posted a 16-1 showing over New Mexico State in the Lubbock opener, before sweeping a four-game weekend with Cal. Tech wrapped up the six-game home stand with a 7-2 win over New Mexico on Tuesday to start out 6-0 at Rip Griffin Park.

The 2017 Shriners College Classic will be one of the premier tournaments across the country this weekend, with all six teams ranked across the various national publications. Each team has only one loss to their name, except for Big 12 foe Baylor, who is undefeated to start the year. Conference opponent TCU is also in Houston this weekend, as the three Big 12 teams will face off against the three SEC teams.

Texas Tech and the Aggies (8-1) renew the classic Big 12 rivalry on Friday afternoon in Houston, meeting for the 155^th time in the two program's histories. It will be the 10^th time the two have met on a neutral site. In their last showdown, Tech picked up an 8-4 victory in 12 innings down in College Station.

The all-time series with Ole Miss and LSU has less depth to it, as the Red Raiders and the Rebels have only met once, in Omaha in 2014, as Tech dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in the program's first trip to the College World Series. Sunday will be the first time Tech has squared off with the Tigers.

On Tuesday, the Red Raiders called upon freshman right-hander John Henry Gonzalez for the start against New Mexico. The Edinburg native tossed 4.0 innings, giving up only two runs on two hits, while striking out two Lobo batters. The two runs came on a first inning two-run home run, and was followed by three-straight scoreless frames before giving way to junior lefty Jacob Patterson.
Tech answered back in the bottom of the first via a solo homer by junior infielder Michael Davis to cut the deficit to 2-1. A four-run third inning put Tech ahead for the remainder of the game and was padded by a two-run eighth as the Red Raiders put the finishing touches on a 7-2 victory over the Lobos to wrap up the home stretch.

The Shriners Classic will mark the first three-game weekend for the Red Raiders this season, which shortens Tech's rotation from the previous two weekend's slate of games. The trio of sophomores will be on display again in Houston, as right-hander Davis Martin gets the nod for Friday's tilt against the Aggies. Lefty Steven Gingery will counter on Saturday afternoon against the Rebels, with righty Ryan Shetter taking the hill in the weekend finale against the Tigers.

This weekend's trio of starters have posted an overall 4-0 record this season over six starts, combining for 41 strikeouts and just six walks. Shetter holds the team-lead in the category with 16 punch-outs, tallying a conference-best 10 against California on February 25. In the four-game series with Cal, Tech's pitching staff and defense held the Golden Bears to two or fewer runs in every game, including a one-run contest in game one of Saturday's doubleheader. All four of Tech's starters pitched at least 5.0 innings, as Gingery and Martin both tossed season-high 7.0 frames. In each of the last six games, the Texas Tech pitching staff has held its opponents to two or fewer runs.

Gingery's seven-inning, seven-strikeout and two-hit performance helped earn him Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on February 27. With the award, Tech has now garnered a nod for all three of the conference's weekly honors through only two weeks of competition.

At the plate, Red Raider hitters carried over a strong opening weekend, racking up 10 or more runs in two of the games. Tech got timely hits from all over the roster, including a pair of grand slams from Orlando Garcia (2/21) and Hunter Hargrove (2/26). The Red Raiders hit five homers overall last week among the 53 overall hits, averaging over 10 per game. Tech also scored 39 runs, with eight coming from freshman Grant Little, followed by Hargrove and Garcia with five each.

The Red Raiders followed up the weekend by scoring seven runs on seven hits against New Mexico on Tuesday afternoon. Junior outfielder Connor Beck posted his third multi-hit game of the season, while senior outfielder Ryan Long pinch hit and delivered a two-RBI single in the eighth inning for his team-high fourth multi-RBI performance of the season.

Tech moved up in four of the polls this week after going 5-0 last week. The Red Raiders are once again ranked the highest by D1 Baseball, cracking the top 10 at No. 10 in this week's poll. The National College Baseball Writer's Association slotted Tech at No. 11 in this week's rankings, while Collegiate Baseball Newspaper put the Red Raiders at No. 12. Tech held firm in Baseball America's rankings at No. 21, while moving into the top 25 in Perfect Game's poll at No. 24.

After the trip to Houston, the Red Raiders return to Lubbock to face NCAA runner-up Arizona on Tuesday, March 7, at 6:30 p.m. at Rip Griffin Park.

As we head to Houston, take a look back at when Landon & Cody from @shrinershosp joined us for practice. #WreckEm #ShrinersCollegeClassic pic.twitter.com/FtlfBU9Osy
— Texas Tech Baseball (@TTU_Baseball) March 2, 2017