Red Raiders primed for Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas Tech Red Raiders are primed for a six-game outing at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. First pitch in Tech's opening game of the weekend is set for Thursday at 12 p.m.

Texas Tech (9-2) will take on Cal Poly, UC Riverside, Utah, Bethune-Cookman and Cal over the course of the weekend. All six matchups will be aired live on Flo Sports.

The Red Raiders return to acting after a successful outing in the UTEP Tournament, where Tech went 6-0 with wins over Buffalo, Santa Clara, New Mexico and UTEP. Over the weekend, the Red Raiders set the single-game program home run record after blasting six long balls in Sunday's finale against Santa.

This weekend, Tech will meet Bethune-Cookman and UC San Diego for the first time in program history. The Red Raiders are searching for its first win over Cal Poly while leading the series with UC Riverside 3-2. Saturday will see the stalemate snapped with Utah as the series is currently tied at three all. Cal currently holds a 2-3 series lead over Tech.

Quick Hitters
• The Texas Tech Red Raiders begin a new era under head coach Craig Snider this season. Snider made previous stops at Texas A&M and Florida State as an assistant before becoming the ninth head coach in school history. The Franklin, Kentucky native brings a slew of post season experience, including a national championship.
• After initially planning to forego her fifth year of eligibility, Makinzy Herzog caught wind of Snider being named the head coach at Texas Tech and hit the transfer portal. The two-time All-SEC selection rejoins Snider, who recruited her at Florida State and coached her at A&M, to finish her playing career.
• Snider added Makinzy Herzog and Sage Hoover from the transfer portal to aide the Texas Tech bullpen. Herzog brings more than 320 innings worth of experience and strikeouts to Lubbock. On the other hand, Hoover was named the 2022 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year after a stellar first season in the circle, where she logged 175 strikeouts and a 2.56 ERA.
• The Red Raiders also return all six of its pitchers from a year ago, including NFCA Third Team All-Region selection Kendall Fritz. Tech's pitching staff this season will consist of eight hurlers.
• To lead the bullpen, Craig Snider tabbed the 2018 NFCA National Assistant Coach of the Year Paige Cassady as the team's pitching coach. Cassady was the first member of Snider's charter staff. In her nine seasons at Liberty, she helped lead the Lady Flames to five regular season conference championships and three tournament championships. Four of Cassady's pitchers have been named the ASUN Pitcher of the Year.
• The Red Raiders blasted a single-game program record six home runs to down Santa Clara and sweep the Dr. Diana Natalicio Memorial Tournament last Sunday at UTEP. Five Red Raiders blasted home runs to set the single-game program record – Makinzy Herzog (2), Carson Armijo, Abbie Orrick, Madelyn Save and Kailey Wyckoff.
• After hitting 36 home runs on the year a season ago, Texas Tech smashed 17 home runs this weekend alone. The Red Raiders now have 23 home runs on the season. Nine different Red Raiders hit a home run throughout the course of the weekend – Kailey Wyckoff (4), Arriana Villa (2), Ellie Bailey (2), Makinzy Herzog (2), Peyton Blythe (2), Abbie Orrick (2), Alanna Barraza (1), Carson Armijo (1) and Maddie Saven (1).
• After the conclusion of the second weekend of the season, your Texas Tech Red Raiders led the nation in team home runs and doubles (27).
• Freshman Kailey Wyckoff led the squad offensively last weekend, batting .563 with three doubles, four home runs and six RBIs. Of Wyckoff's four home runs, two of them were game-tying blasts and two of them were go-ahead knocks.

Red Raiders primed for Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic

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Players Mentioned

Carson Armijo

Ellie Bailey

Alanna Barraza

Peyton Blythe

Kendall Fritz

Makinzy Herzog

Sage Hoover

Abbie Orrick

Arriana Villa

Kailey Wyckoff