Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Iowa
Preview: Tech welcomes No. 23 Iowa
March 09, 2023 | Baseball
No. 23 IOWA at TEXAS TECH
Lubbock, Texas | Rip Griffin Park
March 10-12, 2023
- Friday, 6:30 p.m.: Watch | Listen | Stats | Tickets
- Saturday, 2 p.m.: Watch | Listen | Stats | Tickets
- Sunday, 1 p.m.: Watch | Listen | Stats | Tickets
PROMO HIGHLIGHTS
- Decades Weekend (all games)
- Each day of the series there will be music played from the 80s (Friday), 90s (Saturday) and the 2000s (Sunday).
- Friday
- The first 300 fans in attendance will receive a free Texas Tech branded car flag.
- Sunday
- Kids Club Day -Â Free admission with a valid Kid's Club membership. Postgame autographs and base running.
A pair of teams ranked by several national outlets are set to square off at Rip Griffin Park this weekend when Iowa visits for a three-game series versus the Red Raiders. The two programs own a combined 22 wins and three losses. Iowa enters the series ranked in the Top 25 by Collegiate Baseball (No. 16) and D1Baseball (No. 23); its 10-1 start is its best start since 1942. Meanwhile, Texas Tech is 12-2 and ranked by five respective polls.
Coverage will be provided via Big 12 Now on ESPN+. John Harris will be on the mic for play-by-play duties while former Red Raider baseball player Mike Gustafson will provide the analysis for all three games. All broadcasts can be accessed from any desktop or laptop computer, personal cellular device and television streaming services using the ESPN app. Registration for the subscription service can be found at ESPNPlus.com.
Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game over 46 affiliates throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico as well as on the web via the Varsity App. Geoff Haxton will have the call alongside Jamie Lent for each contest over the weekend.
TEXAS TECHÂ IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
For the first time since May 9, 2022, the Red Raiders are not ranked inside the Top 25 of all six major national polls. D1Baseball dropped Tech out of the rankings after it lost its first two games of the season at the Shriners Children's College Classic played in Houston, Texas at Minute Maid Park. Tech fell 3-2 to Rice on Friday and 4-2 in 16 innings to No. 15 Texas A&M on Sunday. The Red Raiders defeated Michigan 10-7 in the middle game.
The Red Raiders landed inside the Top 25 in the five other polls, released Monday, March 6.Â
- D1Baseball: NR
- Baseball America: 25
- NCBWA: No. 21
- Collegiate Baseball: 18
- USA Coaches: No. 21
- Perfect Game: No. 15
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PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS
- Friday, March 10: RHP Brendan Girton (2-0, 2.35 ERA) vs. RHP Ty Langenberg (1-1, 4.91 ERA)
- Saturday, March 11: LHP Mason Molina (2-0, 2.93Â ERA)Â vs. RHPÂ Brody Brecht (1-0, 2.19 ERA)
- Sunday, March 12: RHP Kyle Robinson (0-0, 5.25 ERA)Â vs. RHPÂ Marcus Morgan (0-0, 4.76 ERA)
OFFENSIVE FIREWORKS
The Red Raiders' offense was a power in 2022, being one of 17 programs in the nation that scored more than 500 runs last season. The 2023 team appears to be on its way to manufacturing similar results by 141 runs in its first 14 games, which includes half its games scored in double digits this season (7-of-14). The Red Raiders enter their series versus Iowa scoring 10.1 runs per game; its' 141 runs are tops in the Big 12 and rank as the ninth-most scored in the NCAA this season. The Red Raiders' 10.1 runs per game are also tops in the Big 12 and ranks 16th in the NCAA
The Red Raiders are one of 17 teams in the NCAA that are averaging double-digit runs scored per game (10.1) entering this weekend.
NCAA TOP 10
Through the first 14 games, the Red Raiders rank in the NCAA Top 10 in seven different statistical categories, including three that Texas Tech leads the nation in as they are No. 1 in double plays (21), sacrifice flies (20), and doubles (39). Tech ranks No. 3 in walks (107), No. 4 in triples (9), No. 9 in runs (141) and No. 10 in hits (156).
HOME DOMINANCE
Texas Tech enters the weekend 11-0 at home; the Red Raiders have started four-straight seasons 11-0 dating back to the first 11 games of the suspended 2020 COVID season. Tech started last year with 14 straight wins at home, which the Red Raiders will look to match this weekend. Looking back to the later half of the 2019 season, the Red Raiders have won 54 of their last 55 home games versus nonconference opponents.
With two wins over the weekend, head coach Tim Tadlock would reach 250 career wins at Rip Griffin Park. The 11th-year head coach owns a 248-64 (.795) career record at home entering Friday's game versus Iowa.
SERIES HISTORY - IOWA
- The two programs enter the weekend series having met four times previously. Tech leads the series 3-1.
- In 2022, Tech split two games in Iowa City. It was planned to be a three-game series, but the weather had different plans as the Friday pairing was canceled. The Red Raiders also pushed back their travel plans due to the forecast and arrived Friday, for games on Saturday and Sunday.
- In its first two all-time meetings, in 2011, the Red Raiders won both, 9-7 and 6-4, when Iowa visited for the Texas Tech Invitational.
- Prior to last season's trip to Iowa City, the Red Raiders' baseball program had only visited the state of Iowa twice in their history, for a pair of three-game series versus Iowa State in 1998 and 2000 during the early years of the Big 12 before the Iowa State baseball program was discontinued in 2001.
- Texas Tech is 43-38 all-time versus the Big Ten; the Red Raiders added a win to its record last weekend with a 10-7 victory over Michigan at the Shriners Children's College Classic in Houston, Texas. The majority of the Red Raiders' 81 all-time games versus the conference can be attributed to Nebraska - who was previously in the Big 12. Texas Tech versus Big Ten schools, when omitting the Cornhuskers, is a combined 22-6 versus Illinois (1-0), Indiana (3-1), Iowa (3-1), Michigan (9-2), Northwestern (4-2) and Ohio State (2-0).
LAST TIME AGAINST THE HAWKEYES
Texas Tech split its two games in its first trip to Iowa City last season. The Red Raiders won their series opener, 11-3, on Saturday, March 19 at Duane Banks Field. Texas Tech piled on a Saturday-high four runs in the eighth inning to put the game well out of reach, but it was a three-run, two-out rally in the fourth sparked by a Dillon Carter triple, followed by an Easton Murrell single and a Cole Stilwell home run.  Previously planned Friday night starter Andrew Morris backed up Saturday starter Brandon Birdell after throwing the first five innings. Kyle Robinson finished the game in the ninth. On Sunday, Iowa snapped Tech's then-seven-game win streak and earned its first win in the all-time series, defeating the Red Raiders, 6-3. Mason Molina started for Tech, and it was a 1-1 game through the first five innings en route to a then-career-high nine strikeouts. Brendon Girton in relief, in what would be his final game played in 2022, inherited a leadoff walk by Molina in the sixth, and could not limit the damage as Iowa rallied for four runs in the sixth to open a 5-1 lead that Texas Tech could not recover from.
BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIPÂ
The 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship, will be hosted at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, May 24-28. For info on attending and tickets, visit Big12Sports.com.
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