No. 10 Tech Wraps Regular Season At No. 14 OSU

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 10 Texas Tech baseball team embarks on its final road trip of the regular season, traveling to Stillwater to take on No. 14 Oklahoma State on May 17-19 at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.

Thursday & Friday's games are slated for 6:30 p.m. starts on FOX Sports Southwest Plus, while Saturday's finale is a 1 p.m. first pitch on FOX Sports Oklahoma. As always, all three games can be heard on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM, the 97.3 app, the TuneIn app and at TexasTech.com. Live stats will also be available via sidearmstats.com/okstate/baseball/.

The Red Raiders (35-15, 12-9) and the Cowboys (29-19-1, 16-5) will jockey for positioning in the Big 12 standings with the final conference series of the year in tow. Tech sits in fourth in the league standings heading into the weekend and can climb as high as second with the right results.

Last year, the two teams met four times, with OSU claiming the season series in Lubbock. However, Tech's last trip to Stillwater resulted in a three-game sweep of the Cowboys in 2016. Overall, the Red Raiders trail the all-time series by just a few games at 32-40, while posting a 15-21 mark in Stillwater.

Tech is coming off a nine-day break from in-game competition, as the Red Raiders last played on May 8 because of final exams. Tech closed the home portion of its schedule with a 23-5 mark at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

Oklahoma State dropped its series at Baylor last weekend, falling in the opener & finale by scores of 13-5 and 7-3, respectively. In the middle game, OSU hit seven homers and evened the set with an 11-6 victory.

Both squads are ranked in the top 25 of both the national rankings and RPI poll heading into this weekend's bout. Tech is ranked as high as 10^th by Baseball America and Perfect Game, while OSU is slotted at No. 14 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. In the RPI poll, the Red Raiders are ninth, while Oklahoma State is 22^nd.

Head coach Tim Tadlock will send out senior lefty Dylan Dusek, junior right-hander Davis Martin and sophomore RHP Caleb Kilian to face the Cowboys this weekend. Dusek has made 15 appearances this season and will make his first start since March 3 against South Alabama. He went 4.0 innings in that contest, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out seven. He has a 2.59 ERA this year and a 3-0 record.

Martin & Kilian have 14 combined wins between the two, with Kilian sitting at 8-1 overall this year. In 12 starts, Martin has 65 strikeouts with a 3.90 ERA, while Kilian has rung up 49 batters for a 1.88 earned run average. Opposing hitters have totaled a .208 batting average against the duo and a .234 mark against Tech's pitching staff this season. The Red Raiders head into the weekend with a 4.28 team ERA.

They'll face an Oklahoma State lineup hitting .262 as a unit through 49 games this season. Four Cowboys are above the team average with sophomore Michael Neustifter leading the group with a .323 clip. Junior Colin Simpson paces OSU with 56 hits, including 18 homers, along with 50 RBI, while junior Matt Kroon holds the top spot in runs scored with 48. As a whole, OSU's hitters have run up a 5.60 ERA for its opponents.

The Cowboys will run out junior right-hander Joe Lienhard, junior lefty Carson Teel and TBA to face the Red Raiders. Lienhard holds a 5-2 record over 10 starts & 15 appearances with a 5.73 ERA and one save. Teel has racked up the most strikeouts with 77 on his way to a 3.88 clip and a 7-2 record, along with three saves. Saturday's starter is TBA. Overall, OSU's pitching staff has a 5.30 team earned run average, while opponents are hitting .281 off the group.

Tech enters the weekend with the eighth-best batting team batting average in the country at .310. Six starters sit above that team mark with sophomore Josh Jung leading the way. He paces the squad in hits (80), RBI (69) and runs scored (57), while Tech has tagged opposing pitchers for an 8.12 team ERA.

For the 14^th-straight week, Tech is ranked inside the top 10, with Baseball America and Perfect Game slotting the Red Raiders at No. 10 in their respective polls this week.

After the weekend set in Stillwater, Tech will open the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City on May 23-27.

No. 10 Tech Wraps Regular Season At No. 14 OSU

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Players Mentioned

Dylan Dusek

Josh Jung

Caleb Kilian

Davis Martin