No. 8 Tech Hosts Ranked Weekend Against No. 18 Texas

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 8 Texas Tech baseball team continues its home stand against No. 18 Texas on May 4-6 at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

Friday night's game is slated for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch on FOX Sports Southwest Plus, while Saturday's contest is set for 1 p.m. on ESPNU. Sunday's game will also air on FSSW+ at 2 p.m., and is senior day, where Tech will honor its five members of the 2018 senior class in a pregame ceremony.

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/texastech/baseball/.

The Red Raiders (34-12, 11-7) and Longhorns (31-17, 12-6) sit a game apart in the conference standings heading into the weekend, with Tech in third overall. Tech trails in the all-time series in overall games & in contests played in Lubbock, but posted a three-game sweep of Texas in 2017 to kick off Big 12 action. The Red Raiders won a pair of 2-1 victories to claim the series, then capped off an 8-5 win to complete their first sweep of Texas in Austin in program history. Friday is the 160^th meeting between the two schools.

Earlier this week, Tech picked up an 11-6 victory over San Diego to improve to 23-5 against non-conference opponents and 7-3 in midweek matchups. Trailing by one in the sixth, sophomore Grant Little launched a two-run homer to re-gain the lead, followed by four more runs in the seventh & eighth innings to open the week with a victory.

It comes after Tech posted a 6-0 shutout victory over TCU on Saturday night in Fort Worth. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Caleb Kilian and junior righty Ryan Shetter combined to one-hit the Horned Frogs in the middle game of the series. It was the first combined one-hitter by a Red Raider pitching staff since Duke Von Schamann and Trey Masek christened Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park with the feat on Feb. 17, 2012, against Missouri State.

The Red Raiders still hold the No. 3 spot in the latest NCAA RPI rankings, staying in the top five since the start of the 2018 release of the poll. Texas comes into the weekend at No. 30 in the RPI poll.

Head coach Tim Tadlock will send out right-handers Davis Martin and Caleb Kilian to start the first two games of the series against the Longhorns. Martin & Kilian split results last weekend, as Martin sits at 6-3 this year, while Kilian comes into the weekend at 7-1. The duo has combined for 108 strikeouts, with Martin leading with 61, but Kilian tops the two with a 1.75 ERA. Sunday's starter is TBA.

They'll face a Longhorn lineup hitting .272 this season, with six starters above the team average. Junior infielder Kody Clemens paces the squad with a .333 average, while also leading the team in hits (60), RBI (50) and runs scored (44). The Longhorns have tagged opposing pitchers for a 5.48 team ERA through 48 games in 2018.

Texas will run out right-handers Nolan Kingham, Chase Shugart & Blair Henley to face the Red Raiders this weekend. Kingham holds a 5-2 record with a 4.38 ERA, racking up 54 strikeouts and 15 walks over 61.2 innings. Shughart has a similar line at 4-2 & a 4.43 earned run average, striking out 41 and walking 23, while Henley has the lowest ERA (3.32) but a lopsided record (5-6) to go with 46 K's and 22 walks. As a unit, Texas has a 4.41 team earned run average, while holding opponents to a .267 clip at the plate.

The Red Raiders continue to the lead the Big 12 and rank fifth in the country with a team batting average of .312. Sophomore Josh Jung leads the team with 74 hit, 61 RBI and 55 runs scored, as six starters are above the team mark coming into the weekend. With 396 runs scored this season, Tech has sent its opponent's ERA up to an 8.22 clip this season.

For the 12^th-straight week, Tech is ranked inside the top 10, sliding to eight in Perfect Game & the USA Today Coaches poll and ninth by D1 Baseball, Perfect Game & the NCBWA. Texas is ranked in the top 25 of all six polls, coming in as high as No. 18 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.

After the weekend, Tech will play its final home game of the regular season on Tuesday, May 8, against Dallas Baptist at 6:30 p.m. at Rip Griffin Park.

No. 8 Tech Hosts Ranked Weekend Against No. 18 Texas

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