Preview: No. 16 Tech hosts Baylor

BAYLOR at No. 16 TEXAS TECH
Lubbock, Texas | Rip Griffin Park

April 21-23, 2023

Friday, 6:30 p.m.: Watch | Listen | Stats | Tickets
Saturday, 2 p.m.: Watch | Listen | Stats | Tickets
Sunday, 2 p.m.: Watch | Listen | Stats | Tickets

Texas Tech Game Notes (PDF) | Baylor Game Notes (PDF)

Promotional Notes

Saturday
- Red Out: All patrons are encouraged to wear red to the game.

STARTERS
Texas Tech is on deck to begin its fifth Big 12 series of the season with Baylor on Friday night at Rip Griffin Park. The Red Raiders enter the series with a 6-6 (.500) Big 12 mark at the halfway point of the conference season in what will be a pivotal weekend as six teams in the Big 12 own a conference-winning percentage of .500 or better. Tech sits in sixth place but is just two games off the pace of first-place Texas who are 8-4 (.667). Texas and Texas Tech are the only two Big 12 teams that currently reside in the D1Baseball Top 25.

Friday's contest will be featured on ESPNU while coverage turns to Big 12 Now on ESPN+ for the remainder of the series. Clay Matvick and Mike Rooney will be in the Rip Griffin Park broadcast booth on Friday for the worldwide leader. Chris Sylvester will be on the mic for play-by-play duties on Saturday while John Harris takes over that role on Sunday. Sylvester and Harris will be joined by former Red Raider baseball player Mike Gustafson to provide analysis.

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.

TEXAS TECH IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
After five games on the road versus Stanford and Oklahoma, the Red Raiders moved up the rankings in all six primary national baseball Top 25 rankings, released on April 17. Of the six polls - D1Baseball, Baseball America, NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball, USA Today Coaches and Perfect Game - Texas Tech has been ranked inside the top 25 of all six polls with the exception of a one-week absence from the D1Baseball poll in the March 6/Week 3 poll.

D1Baseball: No. 16 (+5)
Baseball America: No. 15 (+4)
NCBWA: No. 18 (+2)
Collegiate Baseball: 21 (+2)
USA Coaches: No. 19 (+3)
Perfect Game: No. 13 (+4)

The Big 12 recognizes D1Baseball for its primary rankings therefore when one ranking is needed, Texas Tech follows suit with the conference in those scenarios.

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS

Friday, April 21: LHP Mason Molina (3-2, 4.60 ERA) vs. RHP Blake Helton (0-4, 7.88 ERA)
Saturday, April 22: RHP Trendan Parish (2-0, 5.09 ERA) vs. RHP Mason Marriott (1-5, 8.60 ERA)
Saturday, April 23: TBA vs. RHP Will Rigney (3-1, 3.80 ERA)

FOUR DOWN, FOUR TO GO
Believe it or not, Texas Tech is already halfway through its Big 12 conference schedule. Texas Tech has won three of the four Big 12 series they've played, which were against the top half of the league's preseason poll. Texas Tech, who was picked to finish third in the 2023 Big 12 Preseason Poll, owns two series wins at home against preseason No. 1 TCU and preseason No. 2 Oklahoma State. On the road, Texas Tech was swept by preseason choice No. 4 Texas and most recently won its series at Oklahoma, two games to one, who was the No. 5 team in the preseason poll.

MONSTER FIVE-GAME RUN
In the past five games, Gavin Kash has hit 11-for-20 (.550) with six home runs and 16 RBIs and is slugging at a clip of 1.500 percent in that stretch. The Texas Tech sophomore leads the Big 12 in hits (68), home runs (19), runs scored (47), RBIs (66), total bases (141) and slugging percentage (.860). Meanwhile, Kash leads the nation in both hits and total bases, and ranks second in RBIs and home runs.

READY WHEN CALLED UPON
Known as a plug-in-play player for any position, Zac Vooletich has made the most of his opportunities over the last 10 games. Since being inserted into the starting lineup 10 games ago, he leads the Red Raiders in hitting owning a .421 batting average (16-of-38) in that stretch. He logged his first career triple last time out. In the last 10 games, Vooletich started at second base for the first two, giving Austin Green the day off on a doubleheader played versus North Dakota State on April 8 ... on April 8, right fielder Owen Washburn went down to injury and Vooletich began playing right field in his absence starting on April 10 at Stanford.

BIG 12 SWEEP
While it wasn't the Big 12 series sweep the Red Raiders were looking for on Sunday at Oklahoma, Texas Tech claimed a different sweep on Monday as it was announced by the league that the player of the week awards all went to the Red Raiders. Gavin Kash was named the Big 12 Player of the Week, Ryan Free was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and Gage Harrelson was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. It was the first time in the history of the Big 12 weekly awards that Texas Tech claimed all three and the first time since April 2021 that a Big 12 team took home all three (Texas: Ivan Melendez, Tristan Stevens, Mike Antico).

NCAA STAT LEADERS
Entering Friday's game versus Baylor, Tech ranks in the NCAA Top 10 in 10 different statistical categories (NCAA stat report following games played Wednesday, April 19):

No. 2 in hits (444)
No. 2 in double plays (41)
No. 2 in sacrifice flies (32)
No. 3 in double plays per game (1.05)
No. 5 in walks (235)
No. 6 in runs (358)
No. 7 in batting average (.320)
No. 7 in triples (17)
No. 9 in runs per game (9.2)
No. 10 in on-base percentage (.427)

SERIES HISTORY - BAYLOR

Friday's meeting will be the 179th all-time between the two programs in a series that dates back to 1928.
The Baylor series is the second-most played for the Red Raiders, trailing the TCU series.
- Following Tech's series versus TCU earlier this season, those two teams have played 184 times.
Under Tadlock, the Red Raiders have won six of nine series against the Bears.
Under Tadlock, the Red Raiders are 19-12 against the Bears.
The Bears won the series in Lubbock in 2021. It was Baylor's first series win at Texas Tech since 2010.
- In the 2021 series, the Bears won the Sunday rubber match to become the first team to leave Lubbock with a series win since 2018. They remain one of two teams since 2018 as Oklahoma left Lubbock with a series win to close the 2022 regular season during its hot streak en route to the College World Series.
The last time there was a sweep in the series by either team was in 2015. Tech won all three in Lubbock.

2022 REWIND
Texas Tech went to Waco a year ago and won its Friday and Saturday contests before falling short of the sweep by dropping the Sunday finale at Baylor Ballpark. The Red Raiders defeated Baylor, 7-1, on Friday night before a Baylor Ballpark fireworks display. The Red Raiders' dominant effort was keyed by starter Andrew Morris' seven innings of work on the mound and a quick offensive start jumping out to a 5-0 lead after the top of the third - with all five runs manufactured with two outs. Tech clinched the series the following day, cruising to it with an 11-1 victory. Brandon Birdsell followed Morris' one earned run, seven-inning Friday night masterpiece, with his own one earned run, seven-inning gem. Also like Friday night's win, the Red Raiders used the early innings to take control of the game. Tech led Baylor 5-1 after three complete innings on Friday, and again 5-1 after the first three innings on Saturday. Texas Tech dropped its series finale versus Baylor, 11-7, on Sunday. The Red Raiders outscored the home team 5-0 from the fifth inning forward but it was not enough to overcome the nine-run margin the Bears built in the early innings in what was Trendan Parish's first career start.

ACU RESCHEDULED
Texas Tech announced on Wednesday, April 5 that it will host Abilene Christian on Tuesday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Rip Griffin Park. It is a rescheduled date for the game postponed on April 4. Due to inclement weather, Texas Tech and Abilene Christian mutually agreed to push the game to a later date. Those that continue to own single-game tickets for the April 4 contest will be able to trade those in for the rescheduled May 9 matchup. All ticket exchanges are only valid if originally purchased through the Texas Tech ticket office (excludes third-party and season tickets). Fans can contact the Texas Tech Ticket Office at (806) 742-8324 with additional questions or visit TexasTech.com/Tickets.

BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
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.

--TECH--

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Players Mentioned

Brandon Birdsell

Ryan Free

Austin Green

Gage Harrelson

Gavin Kash

Mason Molina

Andrew Morris

Trendan Parish

Zac Vooletich

Owen Washburn

Texas Tech University Athletics