No. 11 Tech Collides with No. 3 Texas in Austin

AUSTIN, Texas – No. 11 Texas Tech baseball heads to Austin this weekend for a key three-game set at No. 3 Texas starting Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

The Red Raiders (28-10; 8-7) are looking to stay in contention to defend the Big 12 title against the Longhorns (34-9; 12-3), who have won nine of their last 10 and are tied with TCU at the top of the league standings.

Friday's opener has been moved up to a 2 p.m., start due to the weather forecast in Austin. The series continued with a 2:30 p.m., first pitch Saturday and Sunday. TV coverage for the opener will be determined on Friday, while the Saturday and Sunday games will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network and Watch ESPN app. Fans can also listen to the call over the radio via the Texas Tech Sports Network.

PITCHING MATCHUP
Friday: LHP Patrick Monteverde (6-2, 3.20) vs. Ty Madden (6-1, 1.68)
Saturday: RHP Micah Dallas (1-2, 3.23) vs. Tristan Stevens (7-1, 2.74)
Sunday: LHP Mason Montgomery (2-2, 4.00) vs. Kolby Kubichek (5-3, 1.43)

TOP 10 OPPONENT
The Longhorns are the fifth top-10 team the Red Raiders have faced this season, going 2-4 in said contests. Tech is 4-5 overall against top-25 clubs this season with home series wins over No. 10 TCU and No. 14 Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders are 11-7 against teams currently projected in the Field of 64 by D1Baseball.com.

INSIDE THE SERIES
Friday's meeting will be the 166^th all-time between the two programs, who have met annually since 1968 up until the 2020 COVID-shortened season. The Longhorns hold a 116-49 lead in the all-time series, including a 56-22 lead in Austin. The Red Raiders, however, have won three of the last four series in Austin under head coach Tim Tadlock.

LAST TIME
The in-state rivals last met up in 2019 as the No. 7 Red Raiders traveled to Austin to open Big 12 play with a top-10 showdown against No. 10 Texas. With the Red Raiders in town, Texas saw 7,879 fans attend the opener for the fourth-highest attended game ever at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Despite outhitting Texas, 22-10, for the series, the Red Raiders dropped one-run battles in the opener and in the finale, allowing the Longhorns to claim the series win.

WEEKEND ROTATION
This will be the third consecutive week Tech will go with the Monteverde, Dallas, Montgomery rotation following the injury to weekend fixture Brandon Birdsell. Tech is now down three potential weekend pieces in Birdsell, Austin Becker and Hunter Dobbins, along with one of its top left-handed reliever in Jacob Brustoski. Becker started 2020 as the Sunday starter while Dobbins went 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in a midweek role in 2020.

MIDWEEK RECAP
The Red Raiders are coming off a 10-4 midweek win over New Mexico. Tech jumped out to a 7-0 lead after two innings and used a season-high eight different pitchers in a bullpen day on its way to the win. The Red Raiders improved to 7-0 in midweek games this season along with 22-4 at home.

RARE HOME SERIES LOSS
Tech is looking to rebound this week from a rare home series loss last weekend, dropping 2-of-3 to Baylor. It marked the first home series loss for the Red Raiders (including postseason) since 2018. The Red Raiders had won 32 of its last 34 home games leading into the series.

POTENT OFFENSIVE ATTACK
Tech boasts one of the nation's top offenses once again. The Red Raiders rank among the top 17 nationally in seven different categories, including home runs (6th), base on balls (6th), runs (9th), slugging percentage (11th), on base percentage (14th), scoring (16th) and triples (17th).

JUNG ON NATIONAL RADAR
Jace Jung leads the Red Raiders offensively as he enters the week tied for second nationally in home runs and RBI. Not only has he impressed in those two categories, but he has consistently found ways to reach base, doing so in all 38 games this season for the longest streak by a Red Raider since Jamodrick McGruder's 39-game streak spanning 2010-11.

IN THE RANKINGS
Tech enters the week outside of the top 10 for the first time this season. The Red Raiders opened the year at No. 3 and as the preseason favorite in the conference. Tech earned a No. 1 ranking at one time during 2020 - the second No. 1 ranking in program history (1997). Tech has spent 60 weeks in the Top 10 of at least one poll since 2017.

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No. 11 Tech Collides with No. 3 Texas in Austin

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Players Mentioned

Austin Becker

Brandon Birdsell

Micah Dallas

Hunter Dobbins

Jace Jung

Patrick Monteverde

Mason Montgomery