No. 3 Tech Drops Heartbreaker In Extras To WVU

Friday, May 26

Oklahoma City, Okla.

3:15 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

43-15

West Virginia

34-23

West Virginia

Texas Tech

No. 3 Tech Drops Heartbreaker In Extras To WVU

May 26, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)

The Red Raiders give up six runs in the 10th to fall, 12-7

OKLAHOMA CITY – The No. 3 Texas Tech baseball team fell in 10 innings to West Virginia, 12-7, on Friday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark to end their run at the 2017 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.

The Red Raiders (43-15) gave up runs in each of the last four frames to the Mountaineers (34-23) to drop their second game of the tournament. Tech lost its opening round matchup against Oklahoma State, 3-0, and picked up a 4-1 win on Thursday against Baylor in the championship's first elimination game.

Three Red Raiders produced multi-hit performances, as the squad totaled 11 in the contest. Freshman outfielder Grant Little had a three-hit day, his team-leading ninth game with three or more knocks. Freshman infielder Josh Jung and senior outfielder Ryan Long each had two, as Little & Jung continue to share the team-high mark in multi-hit games this season with 22.

Sophomore right-hander Ryan Shetter got the start for the Red Raiders in Friday afternoon's game. The Friendswood native went 4.0 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits, striking out one. He gave way to junior lefty Jacob Patterson, who delivered 3.0 frames of one-run, two-hit relief with four strikeouts.

The Red Raiders put the first two runs of the day on the board in the third inning for a 2-0 lead. After withstanding runners in scoring position in each of the first three frames in the field, Tech drew first blood thanks to a two-RBI double to left-center field wall to make it 2-0. Little's knock scored Cody Farhat & Kholeton Sanchez, who singled & walked to lead off the inning, respectively.

West Virginia answered in the top of the fourth with two runs of their own. With two away in the frame, back-to-back singles from Galusky & Lake to put runners on the corners. Gray followed with a triple to right field to clear the bases to knot it up at two.

Tech regained the lead in the home half of the fifth, scoring two runs with two away in the frame for the 4-2 lead. Four-straight Red Raiders reached base with two outs in the inning, beginning with Hunter Hargrove who was hit-by-a-pitch. A Long double into right field put two in scoring position, while a walk to Orlando Garcia loaded the bases. Enter Anthony Lyons, who pinch-hit and delivered a two-RBI single off the glove of the pitcher and into right field to go-ahead, 4-2.

In the top of the seventh, WVU got a run back to bring the score to 4-3. A walk & double with one away put two in scoring position for Cramer, who sent a sacrifice fly to center field to make it a one-run game.

The Red Raiders pushed the lead to three thanks to a two-run dinger from Long in the bottom of the frame. Hargrove began the inning with a double to the gap in left-center field, the Long crushed his fourth homer of the year into the right field deck to push the advantage to 6-3.

A pinch-hitting Kearns for West Virginia brought the Mountaineer deficit back to within two thanks to a solo homer to left field. In the ninth, Cramer hit an RBI single that turned into a game-tying play behind an error to even the score at six.

The Mountaineers exploded for six runs in the 10^th, as three-straight hitters reached via a walk, bunt single and a knock to center field, giving West Virginia the lead at 7-6. With the bases loaded, another walk made it 8-6, then a three-RBI double from Cramer pulled the score to 11-6. West Virginia would claim one more in the frame with a single from Zarbnisky.

In the bottom half of the inning, Tech had its first four hitters reach base, as Jung found a single to left field to drive in a run, but that would be all to round out the 12-7 score.

The Red Raiders will return home and await their fate for postseason play, as conference tournaments around the country begin to wrap up. Regional hosts will be announced on Sunday, May 28, at 7:30 p.m. on social media, with the rest of the field unveiled on Monday, May 29, at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.