Texas Tech Athletics
24-5, 3-1
Oklahoma
24-5, 3-1
No. 2 Tech Drops Series Opener At No. 15 OU, 6-2
April 01, 2017 | Baseball
The Red Raiders falls for the first time since March 14
NORMAN, Okla. – The No. 2 Texas Tech baseball team dropped its first conference game of the season at No. 15 Oklahoma, 6-2, on Friday night at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
The Red Raiders (24-5, 3-1) were held to two runs on four hits in the series opener against OU (24-5, 3-1), scoring in the first and ninth innings. Despite the decision, Tech finished the month of March with an impressive 15-4 overall mark.
Senior infielder Hunter Hargrove and sophomore outfielder Cody Farhat drove in Tech's runs with RBI singles in the opening and final frames, respectively. Freshman righty John Henry Gonzalez picked up his sixth start of the season, tossing 4.0 innings allowing three runs on four hits, to move to 2-2 on the year.
Junior left-hander Jacob Patterson followed with 3.0 frames of one-hit relief work, striking out four. Defensively, Tech came away with a season-high three double plays turned in Friday's opener.
The Red Raiders put the first run of the night on the board in the opening frame, after earning back-to-back walks to Grant Little & Josh Jung to start the frame. With one away, Hargrove smacked a single into left-center field, driving in Little from second for the early 1-0 lead.
Oklahoma answered in the bottom of the second, beginning the frame with a leadoff walk. A single from Walker & a sacrifice bunt from Martinez put two in scoring position for Mendenhall, who reached on a fielder's choice and plated the first run of the game for OU. With runners on the corners and one away, Brewster hit into a double play, with the final out coming in a rundown between first & second, which was held up long enough to score Walker from third to go ahead, 2-1.
OU picked up another run in the third as Zaragoza scored, who reached to open the frame on a single, after a base hit to right field from Flansburg to go up, 3-1. After four scoreless frames, Oklahoma tacked on three more on a bases-clearing double with one away in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 6-1 game.
Tech plated its final run of the night in the ninth inning behind a pair of singles from Michael Davis and Farhat to bring the score to 6-2.
The Red Raiders will be back in action on Saturday, April 1, at 2 p.m. for game two of the weekend slate against No. 15 Oklahoma.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Grove, D. (1-1)
L: Gonzalez, John Henry (2-2)
S: Aiello, V. (1)
Batting:
RBI: Hargrove, Hunter 1 ; Farhat, Cody 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Little, Grant 1 ; Davis, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: Martinez, R. 1 ; Brewster, B. 1
RBI: Flansburg, J 1 ; Martinez, R. 3 ; Mendenhall 1
SH: Murray, K. 1 ; Martinez, R. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Flansburg, J 1 ; Ware, B. 1 ; Harris, C. 1 ; Walker, S. 2 ; Zaragoza, B. 1
SB: Murray, K. 1 ; Zaragoza, B. 1
CS: Hollas, B. 1 ; Ware, B. 1
HBP: Ware, B. 1
PO: Ware, B. 1
