No. 2 Tech Returns To Big 12 Play At No. 15 Oklahoma

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 2 Texas Tech baseball team hits the road for Norman for the second conference series of the year against No. 15 Oklahoma on March 31-April 2 at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

Friday's game is set for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch, while Saturday is slated for 2 p.m., followed by Sunday's series finale at 1 p.m. All three games will be available on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM and the TuneIn App. This weekend's games can be streamed on the Sooners Sports Network with a paid subscription, with Saturday's contest also on FOX Sports Oklahoma Plus and Sunday's on FOX College Sports.

It is the third-straight weekend the Red Raiders (24-4, 3-0) have played away from Lubbock and the fifth overall in the seven weeks of the 2017 season. Tech has put together a 7-1 record in true road games this year and 11-3 overall away from home.

In the first Big 12 series of the year, the Red Raiders traveled to Austin and picked up the program's first-ever three-game sweep of the then-No. 21 Longhorns on March 17-19. Tech won back-to-back 2-1 games to claim the series, then followed with an 8-5 victory in the finale for the sweep. It was the first 3-0 start to conference play for the Red Raiders since 1999.

Tech posted another perfect weekend in Wichita last week against the Shockers. The Red Raiders jumped out to a 10-5 game one win, before closing out the series by holding Wichita State to one run in each of the last two games at 4-1 & 3-1, respectively. It was also the first three-game sweep of the Shockers in school history.

Before heading to Norman, Tech took on Texas Southern in a pair of midweek games, picking up an 8-4 win in a weather-delayed series opener, before storming to a 14-7 game two victory on Wednesday. The Red Raiders posted 17 hits in the first game, followed by 21 in the second, making it the first time since a February 14, 2015, doubleheader against San Francisco to post 15 or more hits in back-to-back games.

Friday's game will mark the first home conference series for Oklahoma (23-5, 2-1), who opened Big 12 play in Waco on March 24-26. OU sandwiched a 7-0 loss with an 11-3 win in the first contest and a 3-0 shutout victory in the rubber match.

Last season, the Red Raiders swept Oklahoma in the season series at Rip Griffin Park, but fell in the elimination game of the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City. During the mid-March set, Tech outscored OU, 24-8, posting a 5-0 shutout in game one, followed by 6-1 and 13-7 wins in the final two games of the weekend. Over the last 10 games against Oklahoma, Tech has won six.

OU holds a slight advantage in the all-time series at 45-35-1, with a 23-11-1 record against the Red Raiders in Norman. The last time Tech picked up a series victory on the road against Oklahoma came in 1999 when they put together a sweep with wins of 11-10, 8-3 and 3-1.

This season, Oklahoma is hitting .300 as a unit, with six over the team-average. Brylie Ware & Austin O'Brien lead the team, both with a .373 clip, while Steele Walker holds the top marks in hits (37), RBI (26) and runs scored (24). Renae Martinez (.329), Brandon Zaragoza (.314) and Ben Hollas (.304) round out the six .300-plus hitters for OU.

On the mound, the pitching staff has put together a 2.66 ERA, holding opponents to a .207 batting average. Righty Jake Irvin has had an exceptional start to the season, going 5-0 in five starts, with a team-best 1.16 ERA and 42 strikeouts.

The Red Raiders have been equally impressive, hitting .292 as a squad with five over the .300 mark. Senior outfielder Ryan Long leads the team with a .372 average, followed closely by freshman outfielder Grant Little at .370. Another senior, Hunter Hargrove, tops the hits (41), RBI (26) and runs scored (28) categories for Tech.

Oklahoma has outscored its opponents, 211-88, while the Red Raiders have tallied 186 runs compared to their opponent's 90 through 28 games. Sophomore left-hander Steven Gingery holds the top ERA with an impressive 1.05 mark, going 5-0 in six starts with 44 strikeouts.

Tech's starting pitching last 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 weekend results, along with the midweek scores, Tech improved to 24-4 overall for the first time since 1997. The Red Raiders carry a six-game road streak into their trip to Norman, while pushing its overall mark to 10-straight victories, making it back-to-back years Tech has accomplished the feat.

After a 5-0 week, the Red Raiders became 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 weekend set, Tech will hit the road for a 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, contest against New Mexico State in Las Cruces.

No. 2 Tech Returns To Big 12 Play At No. 15 Oklahoma

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Players Mentioned

Steven Gingery

Hunter Hargrove

Grant Little

Ryan Long