No. 3 Tech Embarks On First Road Trip To UTSA

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 3 Texas Tech baseball team hits the road for the first time this season, taking a trip south to San Antonio to face UTSA on Feb. 23-25 at Roadrunner Field.

This weekend's contests will be shown on Conference USA's online network, with a subscription, and can be heard on the Texas Tech Sports Network through TexasTech.com. Additionally, Friday & Sunday's games will air on 97.3 FM, the 97.3 app & the TuneIn app; while Saturday's matchup can be heard on 100.7 FM, the 100.7 app & 950 AM.

Friday will mark the 12^th meeting between the Red Raiders (5-0) and the Roadrunners (2-1). This year's series is just the second three-game set between the two teams, with last year's 2-1 series win by Tech the first. The Red Raiders won the opener & finale against UTSA last season, 7-6 & 8-4, respectively, while dropping a ninth-inning heartbreaker, 3-2, in the middle game.

UTSA began the season with a 2-1 series win over San Francisco, dropping an 11-2 decision on Opening Day, followed by 11-1 & 13-5 wins in the final two games of the series. It's been almost a week since the Roadrunners last took the field, as their midweek contest against ACU was postponed due to weather.

The Red Raiders embark on their first road trip after a strong five-game opening home stand to begin the 2018 season. Tech started the year with a four-game sweep of Maine on Feb. 16-18 at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. The Red Raiders grinded out a 4-2 victory on Opening Day against the Black Bears, then rolled in the Saturday doubleheader by scores of 12-1 & 12-5. Tech wrapped the weekend with a 21-6 rout to put the bow on the first series between the two programs.

Tech racked up 49 runs & 48 hits against the Black Bears in the opening weekend. Six Red Raiders recorded multi-hit games, totaling 11 for the weekend, as sophomore infielder Josh Jung led the way with three. Jung also paced the team in multi-RBI performances with three of the team's 14, while six other student-athletes had at least one performance with multiple RBI driven in.

On Tuesday, the Red Raiders posted its first shutout of the year, as Tech blanked New Mexico State, 12-0, to close the home stand. It was the fourth-straight game the Red Raiders had racked up 12 or more runs & over 10 hits. Sophomore designated hitter Brian Klein plated the first three runs behind a pair of homers, then the rest of the Red Raiders bats followed suit with two more dingers & nine extra runs to cap the day.

Junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Shetter got the start for the Red Raiders and tossed a gem, throwing 6.0 scoreless frames. The Friendswood native allowed just one hit, did not issue a walk and struck out nine batters, including the first four Aggies he faced.

Jung added another three-hit day at the plate against NMSU, including two doubles, after earning Big 12 Player of the Week for the first time in his collegiate career. The award was announced Monday in conjunction with Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, which was given to Red Raider freshman Gabe Holt. It marked back-to-back years a Red Raider duo had won the two awards after the opening weekend of the season, as Jung (Newcomer) and Hunter Hargrove (Player) took home the honors after the 2017 opener against Western Illinois & Mississippi State.

Holt finished the weekend with eight hits, four for extra bases, including two doubles, a triple and a homer. He also drove in six RBI and score five runs, while throwing down two three-hit bids in each of the last two games of the series.

Both Jung & Holt came a triple away from the cycle in two different games over the weekend. Jung's happened on Opening Day, as he hit a double, a single & a homer in his first three at-bats. Holt opened Saturday's second game of the doubleheader with a home run & a double in the first inning, then a single in the seventh. He would get his triple the next day in his first at-bat of the finale against the Black Bears. Last season, Tech student-athletes had five separate occasions where they needed one more base hit to hit for the cycle. The last cycle by a Red Raider was in 2008 when Chris Richburg did it against New Mexico State in Roswell, New Mexico (April 23, 2008).

Head coach Tim Tadlock will hand the ball over to a pair of juniors, sandwiched with a sophomore in the middle for this weekend's rotation against UTSA. On Friday, right-handed pitcher Davis Martin, who started the season opener for Tech, will get the start while RHP John McMillon and lefty Erikson Lanning get the nods on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Martin & McMillon both picked up wins during the opening weekend after each tossing 5.0 frames in their respective outings. Both men enter the weekend with a 1.80 ERA after allowing one earned run each, as Martin struck out four & McMillon punched out seven. Saturday was McMillon's first career start, after coming out of the bullpen for 24 appearances during his freshman season in 2017.

On the other side of the field, the Roadrunners will run out senior RHP Chance Kirby on Friday and senior lefty Steven Dressler on Saturday against the Red Raiders. Kirby started UTSA's season opener against San Francisco on Feb. 16, tossing 3.2 innings, giving up four runs on four hits, two earned, with six strikeouts. Dressler pitched a three-hit, 6.2 frame shutout in the second game of the year, walking four with one strikeout. Sunday's starter is TBD.

After this weekend's series with the Roadrunners, the Red Raiders travel a little further south to Edinburg to face UTRGV on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at noon.

No. 3 Tech Embarks On First Road Trip To UTSA

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Players Mentioned

Hunter Hargrove

Gabe Holt

Josh Jung

Brian Klein

Erikson Lanning

Davis Martin

John McMillon

Ryan Shetter

Texas Tech University Athletics