No. 2 Tech Welcomes Rice for Three-Game Set

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 2 Texas Tech baseball team welcomes former Southwest Conference foe Rice to Lubbock for a three-game set, starting Friday at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

Winners of their last nine, the Red Raiders (13-1) look to continue their winning ways as it hosts the Owls (2-10) starting Friday at 6:30 p.m. Saturday's game, originally slated for 2 p.m., was pushed back to a 3 p.m. start, and the finale will take place Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

The first two games will stream on TexasTech.TV while Sunday's contest will air on FOX Sports Southwest Plus. All three games can be heard on the Texas Tech Sports Network.

The Red Raiders will stick with their rotation of Clayton Beeter, Bryce Bonnin and Austin Becker. Beeter (1-1, 3.00 ERA) carried a perfect game into the fifth last week against FAU, Bonnin (2-0, 4.15) leads the Red Raiders with 24 strikeouts in 13.0 innings pitched, while Becker (1-0, 4.38 ERA) is limiting opponents to a .190 batting average.

Rice will counter with junior right-hander Alex DeLeon on Friday and sophomore right-hander Blake Brogdon on Saturday. Braden Comeaux and Trei Cruz lead the Owls at the plate with Comeaux hitting .406 in six starts while Cruz is hitting .318 with five doubes and a team-high 12 base on balls.

Friday's meeting with Rice will be the 114th all-time between the two schools, who met annually from 1958-1996. Tech holds a slim 57-56 lead in the overall series with a 2-1 win the last time the teams squared off in 2014. Under Tadlock, the Red Raiders are 1-1 against the Owls.

The series concludes a five-game home stand that kicked off a month-long stretch with 16-of-20 games in front of the Red Raider faithful at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park, where the Red Raiders are 8-0 on the year with a 110-21 run differential.

The Red Raiders are coming off a midweek sweep of UNLV where it claimed wins of 11-2 and 11-3. Tech took all three games in Tallahassee, Fla., last weekend, including a pair of wins at No. 9 Florida State.

The Owls dropped midweek contests to Louisiana and Houston after taking two of three from Missouri State over the weekend in Houston.

TICKETS & PROMOTIONS
Individual game tickets are available at www.TexasTech.com, by calling 806-742-TECH, or at the Rip Griffin Park ticket office starting two hours prior to first pitch. A reminder that Texas Tech's clear bag policy is in effect.

Friday: As Seen On TV Night – Nine "As Seen on TV" items will be raffled off during the game
Saturday: Raider Yard and Kids Zone (Pregame)
Sunday: Clint Bryant Retired Jersey Koozies, Kids Run the Bases Postgame

LAST WEEK
The Red Raiders are coming off a 5-0 week, sweeping Southern during the midweek before going unbeaten in Tallahassee with a win over Florida Atlantic and a two-game sweep of No. 9 Florida State on their home field.

The Texas Tech bullpen flashed its muscle and depth over the weekend in Tallahassee as six different relievers combined to pitch 15.2 innings and allow just one run on eight hits for a 0.57 ERA. The bullpen earned all three wins and picked up a save as it struck out 24 batters and walked five.

AWARDS & RANKINGS
Senior second baseman Brian Klein was tabbed Big 12 Player of the Week following Tech's perfect week. Klein hit safely in all five contests, including four multi-hit games, and reached base in 7-of-10 trips to the plate against the Seminoles. In Sunday's comeback win, he doubled to lead off the eighth and scored the go-ahead run on a Cody Masters sacrifice fly that keyed the 4-3 win.

In the rankings this week, Texas Tech holds firm at No. 2 in the Baseball America poll while rising a spot in both the NCBWA rankings and the Collegiate Baseball poll. The USA Today Coaches Poll, which slotted the Red Raiders at No. 3 in the preseason, released its first poll since the season began and moved the Red Raiders down to No. 4.

MORE
Head coach Tim Tadlock enters the weekend two wins shy of 300 for his tenure at Texas Tech. He would become the third coach in program history to 300 wins, joining Larry Hays (813) and Kal Segrist (317). Tadlock would be the fastest of the three to reach the milestone.

As the schedule currently lies, Tech will see no more than one day off between games from February 21st through March 29th. For five straight weeks, the Red Raiders will be in action five days a week. The next time Tech will enjoy two days between games is March 30-31. Overall, it's a stretch of 28 games in 38 days through the end of March.

UP NEXT
Texas Tech hits the road for a midweek series next week when it travels to Biloxi, Miss., for a road matchup with No. 9 Mississippi State at MGM Park, home of the Biloxi Shuckers. The Red Raiders and Bulldogs will collide at 6 p.m. Tuesday and again at 5 p.m. Wednesday with both games airing on SEC Network+.

Fun weekend in store at the Law!

Sunday will feature the first of 4? collectible koozie giveaways, representing our 4? retired jerseys.

??#WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/7LnveIT98U
— Texas Tech Baseball (@TTU_Baseball) March 5, 2020

No. 2 Tech Welcomes Rice for Three-Game Set

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Players Mentioned

Austin Becker

Clayton Beeter

Bryce Bonnin

Brian Klein

Cody Masters