No. 6 Tech Hosts No. 29 BU In First Home Big 12 Set

Friday, April 7

Lubbock, Texas

6:30 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

Baylor

No. 6 Tech Hosts No. 29 BU In First Home Big 12 Set

April 06, 2017 | Baseball

Texas Tech Notes Baylor Notes Game 1 Stream ($)Game 2 Stream ($)Game 3 Stream (FOX Sports Go)Live Stats

The Red Raiders will take on the Bears on April 7-9 at Rip Griffin Park

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 6 Texas Tech baseball team returns to Lubbock for its first home conference series of the year, taking on No. 29 Baylor on April 7-9 at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

The Red Raiders (26-6, 4-2) will square off with the Bears (19-10, 2-4) on Friday night at 6:30, followed by a pair of 2 p.m. starts on Saturday & Sunday. The first two games of the series will stream live on TexasTech.TV with a paid subscription, while Sunday's finale will air on FOX Sports Southwest Plus. All three games will also be available on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM, as well as the TuneIn App, with live stats available via TexasTech.Statbroadcast.com.

Tech takes a 4-2 Big 12 mark into the weekend, the first series at home since March 10-12 against UTSA. The Red Raiders opened conference play with the program's first sweep of then-No. 21 Texas in Austin on March 17-19 behind a pair of 2-1 wins, followed by an 8-5 victory in the finale. Last weekend in Norman, Tech picked up a 9-4 Saturday win against then-No. 15 Oklahoma, but dropped the first & last games of the series to move to 4-2 in conference action.

Baylor will go on the road for the first time in Big 12 play, after opening against West Virginia and Oklahoma in the first two weeks of the conference slate. The Bears dropped both series against the Mountaineers and Sooners to start out 2-4 among Big 12 foes in 2017.

Friday will be the 163^rd meeting between the two programs, a series that is held by the Red Raiders at 84-78. Tech has had great success against Baylor in Lubbock, holding a 53-25 record against the Bears at home.

The Red Raiders have claimed each of the last two series against the Bears, taking two of three last year in Waco. Tech claimed sandwiched a 5-0 opening win and a 6-5 finale victory with a tight 4-3 decision in the middle game of the series. The last time the Bears came to Lubbock, the Red Raiders put together a three-game sweep behind scores of 8-4, 3-2 (12) and 9-5, giving Tech victories in six of the last eight meetings.

Tech returns home after picking a 15-4 win against New Mexico State in Las Cruces on Tuesday afternoon. The Red Raiders racked up 21 hits for the second time this season, last doing so against Texas Southern the week before. Seven different Red Raiders posted multi-hit performances against the Aggies for the first time in a game since May 16, 2013, against Baylor. Among the seven were junior Michael Davis, who had three knocks, and freshman Michael Berglund & Grant Little, who each recorded four-hit bids for the first time in their collegiate careers.

All nine Red Raiders in the starting lineup in Las Cruces tallied at least one hit, while another set of nine crossed home plate, including Little and sophomore Cody Farhat, who combined to score seven runs on Tuesday. On the mound, freshman righty Caleb Kilian picked up his first win as a collegian, going 2.0 innings in his first start on the mound. Tech got strong outings from all six pitchers in the second win against the Aggies this year, with the season finale coming in Midland on April 18.

Another freshman, right-hander John Henry Gonzalez, will get the start on Friday night against the Bears. Gonzalez is 2-2 this year with 14 strikeouts and will make his seventh start of the year against Baylor. He'll be followed by sophomore south paw Steven Gingery, who has put together a phenomenal 2017, sitting at an NCAA-leading 6-0 with a 0.92 ERA, a conference best, and 54 strikeouts. Sunday's finale will see sophomore righty Ryan Shetter take the mound, who sits at 2-0 in 2017 with 38 strikeouts in seven starts.

Tech's 21-hit day helped pushed the Red Raiders to the top batting average in the league this season at .295. Leading the charge is also the conference leader in individual batting in Little, who has put together a .382 average with 34 hits and 28 runs. The Big 12 leader in hits, doubles and total bases also resides in Lubbock in senior Hunter Hargrove, who has tallied 45 hits, including 15 doubles, for 73 total bases. Hargrove & Little also top the squad in multi-hit games this year with 13, while Hargrove also holds the team-high in multi-RBI performances at eight.

On the other side of the field, the Bears will turn to right-hander's Nick Lewis and Montana Parsons on Friday & Saturday, followed by lefty Cody Bradford in the finale on the mound. The Baylor trio has put together a combined 9-6 record with all three hovering around the 2.95 to 3.00 ERA lines. The Baylor bats have put together a .277 average the plate, with Matt Menard leading the way with a .317 clip. Menard and Shea Langeliers top the Bears with 33 hits each, while Kameron Esthay has driven in the most runs with 20.

Heading into the weekend, the Red Raiders sit at sixth & seventh in the six polls. D1 Baseball, the USA Today Coaches Poll, the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and Baseball America all have Tech slotted at No. 6 this week. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Perfect Game placed the Red Raiders at seventh in their respective rankings.

Tech has been ranked inside the top six of at least one poll in each of the last two seasons.

The Red Raiders will wrap up their four-game home stand with a matchup against New Mexico on April 11 at 2 p.m. at Rip Griffin Park.