Tech opens Big 12 play at Houston

HOUSTON – Texas Tech Baseball opens Big 12 Conference Play this weekend on the road with a three-game matchup at the University of Houston.

The weekend gets started with a pair of night games on Friday and Saturday night before the series finale is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.

This weekend's series against the Cougars marks the start of Big 12 play, as the Red Raiders will embark on a 30-game, 10-weekend journey through the Big 12 starting this weekend in Houston.

INSIDE THE SERIES:

GAME ONE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (3-11) at Houston (11-4)
DATE: Friday, Mar. 14, 2025
TIME: 6:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Houston, Texas (Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Mac Heuer (0-1, 7.04 ERA) vs. RHP Paul Schmitz (3-1, 3.38 ERA)

GAME TWO:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (3-11) at Houston (11-4)
DATE: Saturday, Mar. 15, 2025
TIME: 6:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Houston, Texas (Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Tyler Boudreau (1-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. RHP Grayson Drezek (2-0, 5.50 ERA)

GAME THREE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (3-11) at Houston (11-4)
DATE: Sunday, Mar. 16, 2025
TIME: 1 p.m.
LOCATION: Houston, Texas (Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Zane Petty (0-1, 4.97 ERA) vs. TBA

HEADLINES IN 1-2-3:
* With the start of Big 12 on the horizon, Texas Tech Baseball hits the road for its third straight weekend away from Rip Griffin Park and for the fourth time in five weeks. Prior to hitting the road for the weekend series at the Cougars and in collaboration with new apparel provider adidas and former Red Raider Patrick Mahomes have unveiled the brand new Gladiator Uniform. Tech will be the first collegiate baseball program to wear the Mahomes Gladiator logo.

* After a challenging opening four weekends on the season the Red Raiders will look to build upon the non-conference slate that was ranked eighth overall in the country in strength of schedule. After opening the season at then-ranked No. 6 UNC, Tech hosted UC Irvine before heading to Vegas where they saw Illinois, Texas and Washington. The Red Raiders closed non-conference play last weekend at GCU.

* Following a rough start to the year on the mound, the Red Raiders have hopefully turned the corner the last four games. After not recording a start of five innings and three runs or less over the first 10 games, all three of Tech's scheduled starters (Heuer, Boudreau and Petty) each reached at least five innings and allowed one earned run. Heuer went 5.0+ and allowed one run on Friday, Boudreau went 6.0 innings and did not allow a run last Wednesday against UCSD while Petty went five innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on Sunday at GCU.

WEEKEND NOTES:

THE DAWN OF BIG 12 PLAY

The Red Raiders begin their second season this weekend with a trip across the state to face the University of Houston. The Red Raiders and Cougars are meeting for the just the second time as Big 12 Conference foes and for the first time in Houston as conference mates. The Red Raiders and Cougs were once conference mates back in the mid 1970s to the 1990s when both schools were member schools of the Southwest Conference. In 1996, the Red Raiders left the old Southwest Conference for a spot in the Big 12 Conference, while Houston left the SWC for Conference USA. UH spent from 1996-2013 in CUSA before spending the next decade (2013-23) in the American Athletic Conference. UH joined the Big 12 officially on July 1, 2024.

FIRST TIME IN 30 YEARS

The Red Raiders will face the University of Houston this weekend on Houston's campus for the first time since the 1995 season when the Red Raiders and Cougs met for a weekend series from Apr. 7-8. Ironically, that also marked the last time (before last season's three-game set in Lubbock) that Tech and UH met as conference foes.

ALL FOUR TIME ZONES IN THE FIRST MONTH

In the first four weeks of the season the Red Raiders have been busy, as Tech played in four different states and four different time zones in the seasons first 14 games. The Red Raiders opened the season in North Carolina and the eastern time zone before coming home to Lubbock for a weekend set with UCI. The Red Raiders after spending a weekend in Las Vegas (PT), traveled to Arizona to face GCU. On Friday and Saturday, Arizona was on Mountain Time before the spring ahead on Sunday morning switched Arizona to Pacific Time.

BACK UNDER THE LIGHTS

After playing nine straight day game and 10 of its first 11 in the afternoon, the Red Raiders are in a stretch of night games the last two weeks. After playing UCSD last Tuesday in a night game, the Red Raiders faced GCU on Friday and Saturday nights. Tech will play at night for the first two games of this weekends before facing UH in an afternoon game on Sunday.

RACKING UP THE FREQUENT FLYER MILES

This weekends series at UH will mark the third and final consecutive weekend of games away from Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Pakr for the Red Raiders and will close a stretch of 12-of-17 games on the road. The Red Raiders after opening the season at then No. 6 North Carolina returned to Lubbock for a three-game set against UC Irvine. Following the weekend with the Anteaters, Tech hit the road for the Las Vegas College Classic before heading to Grand Canyon last weekend. Since Feb. 24, the Red Raiders have played just home games: last week's midweek series against UCSD. The Red Raiders have racked up nearly 8,000 miles (7, 378 miles) of travel through the first five weeks of the season.

ROAD RED RAIDERS

The Red Raiders will become accustom to the road in 2025 as Tech will play just 26 of 53 games at home this season. Starting with the weekend set at No. 6 UNC, the Red Raiders will play 12 of their first 17 games away from the friendly confines of Rip Griffin Park at Dan Law Field and will play just 10 of their first 26 games at home. In the end, Texas Tech's 27 road games will bring the squad to seven different states: (Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and West Virginia). The Red Raiders in 2025 will play just 31 of 53 games inside the State of Texas. The Red Raiders 26 home games are the fewest in a season since 2022 when Tech also played just 26 games at Rip Griffin Park. The fewest home games the Red Raiders have played in a season was 2009 when Tech played just 22 total home games. This weekend series at GCU will mark the second of three straight road trips for the Red Raiders who open Big 12 play next weekend at Houston. The Red Raiders over the first 17 games of the season (three this weekend and three next weekend) will play just five total road games.

TIME TO SNAP THE ROAD STREAK

After getting swept opening weekend on the road at then ranked No. 6 North Carolina and last weekend at GCU, the Red Raiders are still seeking their first true road win of the season. Dating back to last season the Red Raiders have lost 17-straight road games, the longest streak by a Red Raider team under head coach Tim Tadlock. The Red Raiders last true road win came last Apr. 14 at TCU. The previous longest losing streak on the road under Tadlock was 10 straight (Mar. 10-May 15) losses back in his first season as head coach of the Red Raiders in 2013.

CATCH A WHIFF

After striking out just 490 batters in 59 games (8.3/game) the Red Raiders staff has found the swing and miss stuff in 2025 as the Red Raiders have already struck out 123 batters through 13 games (9.5/game). The Red Raider arms have already recorded six games with double figure strikeouts and has struck out at least eight batters in 10 of 13 contests. For comparison purposes the Red Raiders recorded just 18 double figure strikeout games a season ago. After recording 22 punchouts in the doubleheader against UNC, the Red Raiders whiffed 10 batters against Illinois and Texas. Against UCSD, the Red Raiders struck out 22 batters in two games before recording a pair of nine strike out games against GCU in the first two games of the series.

KYE IS A THREAT ON THE BASES

After recoding 43 stolen bases in his lone season at Galveston College a season ago, Texas Tech sophomore Kyeler Thompson has flashed some of that patented speed in so far as Thompson has stolen 13 bases thus far and has not been caught stealing. Thompson also sits with the third most runs on the team as the outfielder has scored 12 times in 11 games. Thompson's 13 stolen bases are the second-most in the league and the ninth-most per game in D-I Baseball. Thompson is currently on a 13-game hit streak and ranks 11th overall in total stolen bases. Thompson is one of five players in the country with at least 13 stolen bases without a caught stealing.

BOUDY SHOVES IN FIRST CAREER START

Seeking the first quality start of the season by a starting pitcher, the Red Raiders turned to junior Tyler Boudreau, who delivered an absolute gem. Boudreau allowed just two hits in his six shutout innings of work and struck out nine batters. The nine punchouts for "Boudy" were the most by a Red Raider since Kyle Robinson whiffed 11 batters at Oklahoma State last May the 11th. Boudreau got the day off in style, retiring the first 11 batters he faced before a fielding error ended the Canadians perfect game attempt. With the perfect game in the rear view mirror, Bourdreau kept pitching, as the righty did not allow a hit until there were two men out in the fifth inning. With his strong performance on Wednesday afternoon, Boudreau became the first Red Raider starting pitcher to earn a victory and became the first SP to reach the fifth inning this season. After the strong performance last week against UCSD, Boudreau will enter the rotation in placed of the injured Lukas Pirko on Saturday night.

WHAT A DAY, EH?!?

While Canada Day might not be for another 115 days, last Wednesday afternoon against UCSD might as well have been Canada Day at the Rip, as the lone two Canadians on the Texas Tech roster had a day. The Red Raiders first Canadian, Robin Villneuve, went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a pair of runs scored in the Red Raiders 13-1 win over UCSD. On the mound, the Red Raiders other Canadian, Boudreau, pitched the six shutout innings to record his first career win. No stranger to starting or pitching deep into games, Boudreau went 23-4 with 13 career complete games at Midland College. After appearing in just four games and redshirting as a freshman, Boudreau burst on the scene in 2022-23, going 12-2 with six complete games. After a strong 2023 season, Bourdreau took his game the next level in 2024, whiffing 128 batters in 85 innings. Boudreau finished the season 11-2 with seven complete games. Boudreau helped lead Midland to a 44-16 record and to within one game of the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction.

HUGHES IS HARD TO GET LOOKING OR SWINGING

Despite striking out for the first time all season against UC San Diego last Wednesday afternoon, OF Logan Hughes remains one of the toughest players in the country to strike out this season. A transfer from Stetson Hughes struck out just 30 total times in 58 games played and 171 at-bats a season ago. Hughes enters the weekend ninth in the country in hardest to strikeout (2). When you expand the metric out to 55 total at-bats, Hughes becomes one of seven players to have two or fewer strikeouts and 55 total at-bats.

ROBINS CATCHING FIRE

The 2023 JUCO home run leader, Tennessee transfer Robin Villeneuve has caught fire at the plate, as the first baseman is 18 for his last 40 at the plate with 14 runs scored a pair of home runs and 10 RBIs. Last week, Villeneuve homered in back-to-back games after going the first nine games of the season without a home run. After an 0-for-4 day two weekends ago against UC Irvine, Villeneuve has recorded at least one hit in eight straight games and nine of the last 10 contests. The first baseman was named to the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic All-Tournament after hitting 6-for-12 with three RBIs and three runs scored. After leading off the ninth with a 399-foot blast last Tuesday night, Villeneuve, one-upped it the next afternoon when he connected on a three-run, 423'4" blast that cleared the trees in left centerfield and landed on Canton Ave.

BRAVO AND ROB EARN ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS

After a strong weekend that saw the duo go a combined 14-for-27 at the plate with two home runs and eight RBIs, Texas Tech Red Raiders Damian Bravo and Robin Villeneuve were named to the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic All-Tournament. Bravo who homered on both Friday and Sunday, jumpstarted an epic six-run come-from-behind victory over Illinois with his lead-off blast to begin the ninth inning. The outfielder drove in five over the weekend and scored three times. The other All-Tournament team selection, Villeneuve, doubled three times, drove in three and scored three times over the weekend.

BEVIS KEPT US IN IT

After seeing start Lukas Pirko go down due to injury, Tech got one of the best relief outings of the season from sophomore Logan Bevis on Saturday night against GCU. In his longest career outing in college, Bevis tossed 3.1 shutout innings and allowed just one base runner (a one-out double). Bevis struck out four and threw 34 of his 55 pitches for strikes. In his first four outings as a Red Raider, Bevis has struck out seven batters in eight full innings and has allowed just two total runs (one earned). Bevis who pitched 15 total innings a season ago at USF, flashed his patented mid 90s fastball on Saturday night in Phoenix. The righty sat 94-96 and even hit 97 a couple of times. His four strikeouts were the most he has recorded in a single appearance in his career.

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders return home to Rip Griffin Park for the start of a five-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon when the Lobos of New Mexico come to town. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Logan Bevis

Tyler Boudreau

Damian Bravo

Mac Heuer

Logan Hughes

Zane Petty

Lukas Pirko

Kyle Robinson

Kyeler Thompson

Robin Villeneuve