No. 7 Tech Opens Home Big 12 Slate With WVU

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 7 Texas Tech baseball team kicks off its home conference portion of the schedule with West Virginia on March 29-31 at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

All three games will be televised, with Thursday's contest on FOX Sports Southwest, Friday's broadcast on FOX Sports 1 and Saturday's finale airing on FOX Sports Southwest Plus. The series can also be heard on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM, the 97.3 app, TuneIn app and online at TexasTech.com. Live stats will also be available at Sidearmstats.com/texastech/baseball/.

Both squads are looking to turn its early conference fortunes around, after a tough first three games of Big 12 play. The Red Raiders (21-5, 1-2) began the conference slate in Baylor, taking an 11-4 series finale, while the Mountaineers (9-12, 0-3) dropped all three games at Oklahoma to begin conference action.

Last season, the Red Raiders won their season series against the Mountaineers behind one-run contests, picking up wins in game one (1-0) and game two (4-3), while falling in game three (3-2). The two teams met in an elimination matchup at the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City, with West Virginia earning the victory in 10 innings.

Tech enters the set with a 21-5 record after racking up a four-game sweep of Northeastern last weekend in Lubbock. The Red Raiders blasted 11 homers, totaling 56 runs on their way to outscoring the Huskies, 56-12. Northeastern was the fifth first-time opponent for Tech this season, and came to Lubbock with a No. 7 RPI ranking, helping restore the Red Raiders to the top of the NCAA RPI poll this week.

West Virginia comes to Lubbock with a 9-12 mark and also had their midweek game postponed like the Red Raiders. The Mountaineers have posted series wins over Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee State & Canisius this season, with a 6-9 road record.

Overall, Tech is 9-8 against West Virginia, with a 5-1 mark in games played at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

Head coach Tim Tadlock will send right-handers Davis Martin, Caleb Kilian and John McMillon to start on the mound against the Mountaineers. The trio has a 10-2 record to their names, with McMillon leading the group with a 2.56 ERA. They've combined for 93 strikeouts, with McMillon pacing the team with 38 this year. Last Saturday was Kilian's first start of the season, who tossed 5.0 frames to earn the victory.

They'll face a West Virginia lineup batting .244 as a unit through 21 games. Junior outfielder Braden Zarbnisky paces the squad with a .327 average in 14 games. Another junior outfielder, Darius Hill, leads the team with 23 hits, while sophomore infielder Kevin Brophy has driven in a team-high 14 RBI. Junior infielders Jimmy Galusky & Jimmy Gray top WVU with 13 runs scored each.

The Mountaineers will send out their own trio of right-handers in sophomores Isaiah Kearns, Alek Manoah & Kade Strowd to face the Red Raiders. Kearns has a 4.66 ERA over four games & two starts, while Manoah & Strowd check in with earned run averages of 3.86 & 3.67, respectively, combining for a 3-7 mark.

Tech's offense heated up to a .312 team clip, with sophomores Josh Jung & Grant Little at the top with .398 & .39 averages, respectively. Jung paces the team in hits (41), RBI (34) and runs (31), as the Red Raiders have outscored their opponents 224-100 this season.

For the seventh-straight week, Tech is ranked inside the top 10, slotted at No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches poll, eighth by the NCBWA & Perfect Game and ninth by D1 Baseball.

After the weekend set, the Red Raiders hit the road for Midland to take on New Mexico State on Tuesday, April 3, at Security Bank Ballpark.

No. 7 Tech Opens Home Big 12 Slate With WVU

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Players Mentioned

Josh Jung

Caleb Kilian

Grant Little

Davis Martin

John McMillon