No. 6 Tech Heads to Albuquerque To Face New Mexico

Tuesday, April 25

Albuquerque, NM

7:30 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

New Mexico

No. 6 Tech Heads to Albuquerque To Face New Mexico

April 25, 2017 | Baseball

Texas Tech Notes Texas Tech Notes Live Stats

The Red Raiders will take on the Lobos on April 25-26 at Santa Ana Star Field on the MW Network

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 6 Texas Tech baseball team hits the road for Albuquerque for a pair of midweek games against New Mexico on April 25-26 at Santa Ana Star Field.

Tuesday night's game is set for a 7:30 p.m. CDT start, while Wednesday afternoon's getaway day is slated for 2 p.m. CDT. Both games will be broadcast on the Mountain West Network. As always, fans can listen to the game on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM & the TuneIn app, while live stats will be available via TexasTech.Statbroadcast.com.

The Red Raiders (33-10) and the Lobos (23-16-1) have squared off twice this season on the diamond, both in Lubbock at Rip Griffin Park. It's the second-straight year the two programs have met in a four-game series swing, with last year's originally scheduled three-game set becoming four thanks to the NCAA Lubbock Regional.

In the first meeting of 2017, the Red Raiders picked up a 7-2 victory against the Lobos. After falling behind 2-0 in the opening frame, Tech got one back in the bottom half of the inning thanks to a homer from junior infielder Michael Davis. The Red Raiders then tacked on four runs in the third and added two more, keeping the Lobos off the board for the remainder of the game to improve Tech to 9-1 through the first 10 games of the year.

Two weeks ago, Tech posted a 12-4 win over New Mexico behind 11 hits. The Red Raiders got on the board first with a three-run second, but the Lobos answered with three of their own in the next frame, then took the lead in the fourth. It would be short-lived though, as Tech countered with the tying run in the bottom half of the inning, then five tallies over the next two innings & put away New Mexico with another three-run burst in the eighth.

Tech got four scoreless innings from its bullpen in the contest from four different pitchers. Over the final stretch of the game, the Red Raider pitching staff racked up five strikeouts & allowed only four hits.

The Red Raiders and the Lobos met four times in 2016, three during the regular season and one in the NCAA Regional play. Tech took the season series, 3-1, picking up a 14-10 victory in Lubbock on March 22. In a two-game road trip to Albuquerque, the Red Raiders split, taking game one, 7-4, while falling 6-5 in the regular season finale.

The postseason matchup provided plenty of theatrics, as Stephen Smith launched a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning to put Tech up, 4-3. The game was closed out by a walk-off pick-off, as Hayden Howard caught a Lobo runner lurking too far off first to send Tech to the championship round of the Lubbock Regional.

Tech leads the all-time series between the two, 70-45-1, just trailing the Lobos when playing in Albuquerque at 24-25-1.

In their last meeting, New Mexico recorded 13 hits, as the Lobos have continued to hit the ball well this season, posting a team batting average of .312. Six different Lobos are hitting above the .300 mark this year, with Jared Mang leading the way with a .381 clip. Mang also leads the team with 61 hits and 46 runs scored, while Jack Zoellner has driven a team-best 47 runs while hitting .361. The Lobos are averaging 8.5 runs and 11.2 hits per game in 2017.

The Red Raiders roll into Albuquerque with an even .300 batting clip as a unit, also with six hitting above the team average. Senior infielder Hunter Hargrove continues to lead the team with 57 hits, while freshman infielder Josh Jung has closed the gap with 53 hits & crossed home plate 43 times. Junior infielder Orlando Garcia has tallied a team-best 45 RBI behind 10 homers.

Last week, Tech went 2-2, putting up a midweek victory over New Mexico State in Midland with a 6-4 win. The Red Raiders sandwiched an 8-2 rout of Oklahoma State on April 22 with a pair of heartbreakers, dropping a slugfest, 12-10, then falling in extras in the series finale, 3-1.

With the results, the Red Raiders moved a couple spots in a few polls and held firm in a couple others, sitting as high as No. 6 after the dust settled. The USA Today Coaches Poll, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, the National College Baseball Writers Association and Perfect Game slotted Tech at sixth this week. Baseball America & D1 Baseball both moved the Red Raiders down three spots to No. 7 & No. 8, respectively.

After the midweek battle, the Red Raiders return home to face No. 2 TCU on April 28-30 in front of a trio of sold out crowds Rip Griffin Park.