No. 4 Tech Slated For Ranked Weekend Vs. No. 14 OU

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 4 Texas Tech baseball team hosts another ranked series, welcoming in No. 14 Oklahoma on April 20-22 at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

All three games of the series will be played at 2 p.m. this weekend, with Friday & Sunday's contests airing on FOX Sports Southwest Plus and Saturday's game on FSSW. The three-game set will be streamed on FOXSportsGo.com & the FOX Sports Go app, and can be heard on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM, the 97.3 app, the TuneIn app & at TexasTech.com. Live stats will also be available via sidearmstats.com/texastech/baseball/.

The Red Raiders (30-8, 8-4) and Oklahoma (26-13, 9-3) will meet for the 85^th time on Friday, with Tech trailing the all-time series, 36-47-1. However, in games played in Lubbock, the Red Raiders lead with a 20-12 mark. The two teams first met in Norman in 1976, with the first matchup in Lubbock coming in 1995.

The series marks the beginning of the second half of Big 12 action for both squads. OU enters the weekend in a tie for first place in the conference with a 9-3 record, while the Red Raiders are a game back in the standings in fourth.

The Red Raiders have posted series victories over West Virginia, Kansas and K-State, picking up a sweep of the Wildcats last weekend after an offensive explosion. Tech totaled 56 runs over a three-game sweep of Kansas State at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. It broke a school record for runs in a Big 12 series, passing the previous high of 37 set in 2014.

Fourteen Red Raiders produced multi-hit bids, combined with 15 multi-RBI performances to pick up 21-4, 26-6 and 9-6 victories over the Wildcats. Saturday's contest featured 10 extra base hits by the Red Raiders, while Friday featured four homers, with grand slams coming in each of those contests.

Tech put together another four-homer day at New Mexico on Tuesday, racking up 20 runs for the third time in four games to claim a 20-9 victory over the Lobos. Sophomore infielder Josh Jung tallied a 5-for-5 day at the plate, completing the program's sixth cycle in school history and the first since Chris Richburg in 2008. It was the first Tech cycle accomplished with five hits & eight RBI, as Jung went single (first), double (third), three-run homer (fourth), walk (sixth), solo homer (eighth) and triple (ninth) in his six trips to the plate.

It was part of a 22-hit day for the Red Raiders, all nine in the starting lineup scored a run & recorded a hit, including a season-high seven multi-hit performances. Thirteen of Tech's 22 hits went for extra bases, also a season-high, with four triples for the first time since 2014.

Oklahoma is coming off its first conference series loss of the season, dropping two of three to Texas last weekend. OU lost the first two games of the set, 7-6 & 5-3, before posting a 6-0 shutout on Sunday. Oklahoma has series victories over West Virginia, Baylor & TCU, sweeping the first two in Norman.

Head coach Tim Tadlock will send his same trio of right-handers to the mound in junior Davis Martin and sophomores Caleb Kilian & John McMillon this weekend. The three have combined for a 15-4 record this season, totaling 144 strikeouts between them. Martin holds a 6-2 record and a 2.35 ERA, while Kilian sits at 5-1 with a 1.27 clip & McMillon checks in at 4-1 for a 3.32 ERA in 2018.

They'll face an Oklahoma lineup hitting .285 as a unit this year, with five starters hitting above the team average. Junior outfielder Steele Walker paces the team with a .338 clip, with 37 RBI and tying for the top spot in hits with junior infielder Brylie Ware with 49. Fellow junior infielder Cade Harris leads OU in runs scored with 43, as they've tagged opposing pitchers for a 5.72 team ERA this season.

OU will send out their own threesome of righties in junior Jake Irvin, senior Devon Perez & sophomore Nathan Wiles. They combine for a 12-2 record, with Irvin & Perez both perfect at 5-0 & 4-0, respectively. Irvin paces the team with 61 strikeouts and enters the weekend with a 2.96 ERA. Perez holds a 2.78 mark, while Wiles rounds out the three at 3.32 and a 3-2 record. As a unit, Oklahoma has a team ERA of 3.31, holding opposing batters to a .223 average at the plate.

The Red Raiders' last four games have propelled the offensive numbers to a staggering .322 team average, with six above the mark. Sophomore Grant Little leads the team in average, while fellow sophomore Josh Jung took over the lead in hits (62), RBI (52) and runs scored (46). The duo are joined by freshman Gabe Holt as three Red Raiders who have totaled over 50 hits this season, with Holt at 54 and 41 runs scored. Tech has run up their opponents' ERA to an 8.72 clip, while the pitching has kept opponents to .215 at the plate.

For the 10th-straight week, Tech is ranked inside the top 10, slotted fourth by the NCBWA & Perfect Game, and fifth by D1 Baseball, Baseball America and the USA Today Coaches Poll.

After the weekend against OU, the Red Raiders face its highest-ranked match up of the season in a two-game midweek battle at No. 3 Arkansas on April 24-25 in Fayetteville.

No. 4 Tech Slated For Ranked Weekend Vs. No. 14 OU

Players Mentioned

Gabe Holt

Josh Jung

Caleb Kilian

Grant Little

Davis Martin

John McMillon

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