No. 2 Tech Welcomes In Texas Southern For First Time

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 2 Texas Tech baseball team returns to action with a two-game midweek set against Texas Southern on March 28-29 at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

The Red Raiders (22-4) will square off with the Tigers (8-15) on Tuesday night at 6:30, followed by a 2 p.m. start on Wednesday's getaway day. Both games will be available on TexasTech.TV with a paid subscription, as well as on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM and the TuneIn App. Live Stats will also be available via TexasTech.Statbroadcast.com.

It will be the first time the two programs have met on the diamond. The Red Raiders have faced members of the Southwestern Athletic conference on nine different occasions, with Tech holding a 9-0 record against those schools. This season, the Tigers are 2-12 away from home.

Texas Southern is coming off three-straight SWAC series victories, posting an 8-3 conference record to start the year. Last weekend, the Tigers played in three one-run games, taking the series opener, 6-5, and the finale at 12-11, while sandwiching a 6-5 decision in the middle.

At the plate, the Tigers are hitting .260 this season, with three student-athletes hitting well above .300 in Christian Sanchez (.362), Gerrek Jimenez (.348) and Guadencio Lucca (.333). Jimenez leads the team with 24 hits, while three others have 20 or more hits, followed by two closely trailing at 19. On the base path, Texas Southern has seen tremendous success, racking up an impressive 55 steals in 66 attempts, featuring a group that has lead the country in stolen bases the last two years.

On the mound, Texas Southern has put together a team 7.54 earned-run average, while opponents have hit .297 against them. The Tigers will turn to righty's Ryan Hawkins & Darius Boykins for the Tuesday & Wednesday starts, respectively. Hawkins has racked up a 10.43 ERA in seven appearances this season, with six strikeouts and 13 walks. Boykins has punched out 23 batters, walking only 13 for a 4.61 ERA in five starts and seven appearances. Both pitcher's records sit at 0-2 in 2017.

The Tigers have been outscored by a total of 178-111 so far this season. On the flip side, the Red Raiders have pushed across 164 runs in 2017, giving up only 79. The Texas Tech pitching staff has pieced together a 2.77 ERA this year, combining for 227 strikeouts against 104 walks. On Tuesday, Tech will hand the ball over to sophomore left-hander Erikson Lanning for the start, who is 1-0 this season with a 2.87 ERA and eight strikeouts. It will be his third start of the year, who recently has made five shutout appearances out of the bullpen.

The Red Raiders are hitting .275 as a squad this season, with four above the .300 mark. Freshman Grant Little leads the charge with a .385 clip, along with 25 hits and 21 runs scored. Senior Hunter Hargrove tops the team in hits with 36, putting together a .343/.552/.389 clip. Senior Ryan Long (.329) and junior Tanner Gardner (.303) also sit above the .300 mark this season.

Last weekend, Tech had at least two student-athletes record multi-hit performances in four of the five games, helping push the Red Raiders to a perfect 5-0 week. The Red Raiders picked up a 5-2 win over UNLV in the first midweek game, then followed with a walk-off walk to take game two, 5-4, in 10 innings.

In Wichita, the Red Raiders swept the Shockers in a three-game series for the first time in program history. Tech jumped out to a 10-5 win in the opener, after posting six runs in the fifth inning, which marked the 11^th time this season to score four or more runs in an inning. The Red Raiders held Wichita State to just one run in each of the next two games, taking the Saturday contest, 4-1, and the Sunday finale, 3-1.

Tech's starting pitching over the weekend was outstanding, putting together a combined 16.2 innings of work, giving up just one earned run and seven hits, while striking out 18 Shockers. Over the three games, the Red Raiders never trailed, scoring at least once in the first three innings to set the early tone. Overall, Tech outscored Wichita State, 18-7.

With the wins, Tech improved to 22-4 overall for the first time since 1997. It also improved The Red Raiders' road win streak to six games, while pushing its overall mark to eight-straight victories. Two wins against the Tigers this week would give Tech a 10-game winning streak for the first time since 2002, when that squad rattled off 16 in-a-row.

After a perfect week, the Red Raiders have become a consensus top-5 team as of March 27, climbing in three of the six polls in the latest set of rankings. The USA Today Coaches Poll gave Tech its highest ranking of the year at No. 2 this week. D1 Baseball and the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) have the Red Raiders at No. 3, followed by Baseball America & Collegiate Baseball Newspaper at fourth. Perfect Game rounds out the rankings, placing Tech at No. 5 in their latest update.

The Red Raiders have been ranked inside the top six of at least one poll in each of the last two seasons.

After the midweek set, Tech will hit the road for its second conference series of the year, taking on No. 17 Oklahoma in Norman on March 31-April 2.

#TexasTech jumps again in the rankings, ?? as high as No. 2 this week! #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/MxR3KRojJW
— Texas Tech Baseball (@TTU_Baseball) March 28, 2017

No. 2 Tech Welcomes In Texas Southern For First Time

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Players Mentioned

Tanner Gardner

Hunter Hargrove

Erikson Lanning

Grant Little

Ryan Long