Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders sweep Big 12 baseball weekly awards
April 17, 2023 | Baseball
IRVING, Texas – For the first time in its Big 12 history, Texas Tech baseball has swept its weekly baseball awards by claiming each the Player, Pitcher and Newcomer of the Week. The league office announced the news on Monday following the Red Raiders' five road games played April 10-16, two at No. 8 Stanford and three at Oklahoma.
Gavin Kash was named the Player of the Week, Ryan Free was named the Pitcher of the Week and Gage Harrelson was named the Newcomer of the Week. It also marks the first time one school has collected all three awards since April 2021.
Kash had hits in all five games, batting almost .500 (9-for-20) for the week. He turned in three home runs and 10 RBIs, nine of which came in a two-game span to help secure the series win against Oklahoma. Kash was also walked four times aiding a .520 on-base percentage and he slugged .950 for the five-game week. His strongest offensive performance came in Friday's 13-7 extra-inning win over the Sooners, where he went 3-for-4 with two home runs, including an extra-inning grand slam, as he became the first Big 12 player to record six RBIs in a conference game this season. It is his first career Big 12 weekly honor.
In two games, Free appeared in relief for a collective 6 2/3 innings, highlighted by retiring all 15 batters he faced in relief on Saturday in Norman. The junior lefty entered with an 8-5 lead in the bottom of the fifth, then proceeded to strike out nine batters as Texas Tech wrapped up a series-clinching victory. Free fanned nine of the 15 batters he faced, and struck out the side in the ninth inning. He needed just 66 pitches to complete five perfect innings while setting a new career-best for strikeouts. In his Tuesday appearance, Free was part of a trio of relievers that blanked No. 8 Stanford in the Red Raiders' 11-2 win. He pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts. For the week, the Frisco, Texas native had 11 punchouts and held opponents to a .136 batting average. It is Free's first Big 12 weekly honor.
Harrelson collects his second weekly honor in a span of three weeks after hitting .480 over five games. The freshman had at least one hit in all five games and tallied multi-hit games in four of those five games growing his season total to a team-high 21 multi-hit games in 2023. The center fielder set a single-game season-best for hits in a 4-for-6 performance with three RBIs in Friday's extra-innings affair – he was a home run shy of the cycle. The Warner Robins, Ga. product finished the week with two doubles, two triples, seven RBIs and five runs scored and owned a .500 on-base percentage and a .720 slugging percentage.
Texas Tech finished its road swing with three wins, splitting its series at No. 8 Stanford while taking the Big 12 series at Oklahoma, two games to one. Grand Canyon awaits the Red Raiders for a pair of midweek games on Tuesday and Wednesday.
2023 Texas Tech Big 12 Weekly Award Recipients
Player of the Week:
March 20 – Austin Green, INF
April 17 – Gavin Kash, INF
Pitcher of the Week:
Feb. 20 – Brendan Girton, RHP
April 17 – Ryan Free, LHP
Newcomer of the Week:
Feb. 20 – Kevin Bazzell, INF
March 20 – Austin Green, INF
April 3 – Gage Harrelson, OF
April 17 – Gage Harrelson, OF
