Texas Tech Athletics
19-8, 3-4
TCU
16-10, 4-3
No. 22 Tech upends TCU using 10 unanswered runs
March 31, 2023 | Baseball
Until the Red Raider's nine-run explosion in the bottom of the seventh, TCU had scored in the top half of every inning through the first seven until being shut down in the eighth and ninth innings. TCU jumped in front 8-0 after two innings and held a 16-10 lead at the seventh inning stretch.
"I think the biggest thing is they kept playing," said head coach Tim Tadlock. "I mean, obviously, there were some things that happened early in the game that I would say would be on myself as far as just fundamental stuff. That's always the way we look at it when it comes to that, but the guys kept playing and knew that there's nine innings in the game and kept playing the game."
Despite falling behind by eight runs early, the Red Raiders would not go away scoring five runs over the second and third innings to close the gap to a 9-5 deficit after three completed innings. Tech was held from the scoreboard in the fourth and tallied one more in the fifth before a four-run spurt in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 12-10 contest.
TCU answered Tech's four-run bottom of the sixth with its own four-run top of the seventh the next half inning to push its lead back to six, 16-10, and while the situation could have deflated Texas Tech, it sparked the offense.
The Red Raiders sent 12 batters in the dish in the seventh, scoring nine runs on five hits, three walks one hit-by-pitch and two errors. Tracer Lopez led off the inning with a single and came around to score but the fireworks began with two outs. Tech scored eight of their nine runs with two outs starting with pinch-hitter Drew Woodcox working an 0-2 count into a base on balls RBI to begin the outburst. Next up, Hudson White worked another RBI walk and then Ty Coleman, pinch-hitting, was hit-by-pitch to score another to close the gap to 16-14.
The order turned over after Coleman's at-bat, allowing Lopez to record his second single of the frame, this one cut TCU's lead to 16-15. Nolen Hester was responsible for the go-ahead hit, knocking a two-run double, to give Tech a 17-16 advantage. The Frogs lifted its pitcher for Gage Harrelson's second at-bat of the inning and he answered with a two-run RBI single to complete the nine-run inning.
The Red Raiders finished the game hitting 9-for-17 (.529) with two outs and 10-for-29 (.526) with runners in scoring position.
Four Red Raiders recorded three or more hits in their 20-hit, 20-run slugfest. Gavin Kash led the team with four hits (4-for-6), including two home runs, and a double that produced three RBIs. Harrelson, White and Lopez each owned three hits. Harrelson had a career-high four RBIs while White matched his career-high with a team-best five RBIs on Friday night. Freshmen Harrelson and Lopez matched their respective season highs for hits.
Brandon Beckel returned to action for the first time since Sunday, March 19 versus Oklahoma State. The junior bullpen arm lowered his season ERA to 0.56 by putting the only two zeros on TCU scoreboard in the eighth and ninth innings to earn his first career save. Beckel set a career-high for strikeouts with five, which were the final five TCU batters of the game.
"Fun to get him back in the game, and getting him on [the mound]," said Tadlock. "We needed to get him into the game either way, and it's good that he came in and put a couple of zeroes up, for sure."
Ethan Coombes picked up the win, closing out the top of the seventh. Tech used six pitchers total on Friday night. Starter Brendon Girton gave Tech 4 1/3 innings on the mound before the Red Raiders got into its bullpen.
Up Next The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. The contest represents the halfway mark of the 2023 season for the Red Raiders as game No. 28 of the 56-game season.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Coombes , Ethan (1-0)
L: Abeldt, Ben (1-2)
S: Beckel, Brandon (1)
Batting:
2B: Boyers, Luke 1 ; Richardson, Tre 1 ; Silva, Anthony 1
3B: Fontenelle, Cole 1
HR: Taylor, Brayden 1 ; Fontenelle, Cole 2
RBI: Boyers, Luke 3 ; Richardson, Tre 1 ; Taylor, Brayden 4 ; Fontenelle, Cole 4 ; Davis, Austin 1 ; Bowen, Karson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Boyers, Luke 2 ; Richardson, Tre 3 ; Taylor, Brayden 4 ; Fontenelle, Cole 2 ; Nunez, Elijah 1 ; Bishop, David 2 ; Silva, Anthony 2
SB: Richardson, Tre 1 ; Taylor, Brayden 1 ; Fontenelle, Cole 1 ; Bowen, Karson 1 ; Nunez, Elijah 1 ; Bishop, David 2 ; Silva, Anthony 2
Batting:
2B: Hester, Nolen 1 ; Kash, Gavin 1 ; White, Hudson 1
HR: Kash, Gavin 2 ; White, Hudson 1
RBI: Hester, Nolen 3 ; Harrelson, Gage 4 ; Green, Austin 1 ; Kash, Gavin 3 ; Washburn, Owen 1 ; Woodcox, Drew 1 ; White, Hudson 5 ; Coleman, Ty 1 ; Lopez, Tracer 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hester, Nolen 1 ; Harrelson, Gage 2 ; Bazzell, Kevin 2 ; Green, Austin 2 ; Kash, Gavin 4 ; Washburn, Owen 3 ; Woodcox, Drew 1 ; White, Hudson 2 ; Coleman, Ty 1 ; Lopez, Tracer 2
SB: Lopez, Tracer 1
HBP: Coleman, Ty 1
