Texas Tech Baseball and Texas set for Saturday Exhibition
September 26, 2025 | Baseball
The Red Raiders and Longhorns will play 12 innings beginning at 1 p.m.
ROUND ROCK, Texas – Boasting a roster of 25 newcomers among its roster, Texas Tech Baseball opens the Fall portion of the 2025-26 season on Saturday afternoon when it faces the University of Texas for a 12-inning exhibition scrimmage at Dell Diamond – home of the Round Rock Express (AAA affiliate of the Texas Rangers).
The exhibition contest for the Red Raiders is one of two that Texas Tech will play this fall, as the Red Raiders are slated to hit the road to Norman for an Oct. 18 matchup at former Big 12 foe OU.
Please note no video stream will be made available for Saturday's fall ball scrimmage but a Facebook Live and "X" audio-only stream will be set up.
Texas Tech Sports Network broadcaster Jamie Lent will handle the play-by-play duties with Texas Tech Associate Director of Communications (SID) Andrew Stern assisting with color-commentary.
MATCHUP NOTES:
ADDED 40 YEARS OF PRO BALL EXPERIENCE:
Looking to return to postseason play after a two-year hiatus, the Red Raiders were busy this offseason as head coach Tim Tadlock hired a pair of new coaches in Pitching Coach Steve Foster and Director of Pitching Development Steve Merriman.
Boasting two decades of pro baseball experience at various levels of the minors and majors, Foster joined the Red Raiders back in June after a successful decade run with the Colorado Rockies where he served as the MLB Pitching Coach (2015-21) and a four-year run as the organizations Director of Pitching.
The Red Raiders second addition, Merriman, arrived in Lubbock after also spending 20+ years in professional baseball inside six different MLB organizations in various roles. Â Merriman also spent three stints at the University of Michigan serving as the Pitching Coach where he worked with 20-year MLB veteran Rich Hill and 2021 Second Round selection Steve Hajjar.
And while the addition of Foster and Merriman were important and will involve a philosophical shift to a more analytic-driven focus, the Red Raiders additions were not limited to the coaching staff, as between the transfer portal, the JUCO ranks and high school, the Red Raiders welcomed 25 players either back to Lubbock or to Lubbock.
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FREE Â [BACK] AT LAST: Â
After a decorated two-year career that saw his DI eligibility momentarily expire, Ryan Free, Â arrives back in Lubbock after spending the 2025 season pitching at Angelo State. Free, who did not have addition D-I eligibility after his 2024 season came to an end, was granted an extra year of eligibility at the D-II level and decided to transfer to Angleo State where he went 5-1 with a 3.44 ERA.
He struck out 50 batters in 49.2 innings and held opponents to a .221 batting-average-against. Due to another NCAA injunction, Free and all players who appeared at a JUCO between 2020-22 and competed at various levels of the three NCAA levels were granted an extra year of D-I eligibility earlier this summer.
Free helped the Rams to a 48-10 mark and an appearance in the D-II South Central Super Regional. Â The Rams won the LSC Tournament, coming out of the loser's bracket of the tournament after losing the opener to LCU, before sweeping its way past LCU and St. Edwards for a berth in Super Regionals.
A two-year standout for the Red Raiders, Free went 11-6 in his Texas Tech career and made 44 appearances and nine starts. Free had a pair of saves and struck out 92 batters in 98.1 innings.
JUCO BANDITS GALORE:
As is part of the Red Raiders roots and identity since the start of the Tim Tadlock era, the 2025 Texas Tech Fall roster features 13 players who appeared at JUCO at some point during their college careers.
Headlined by the return of Kyeler Thompson and Robin Villeneuve, the Red Raiders return "four" (three if you don't count Free) players who have played at Texas Tech from a JUCO.
Originally out of eligibility after the 2025 season, Villeneuve also returns for the Red Raiders in 2025-26 after a strong campaign that earned the first baseman Second Team All-Big 12 honors after batting .365 with 12 homers and 49 RBIs. Villeneuve also added a team-best 18 doubles and slugged an impressive 1.108 for the season, while Thompson returns after hitting .258 with a team-best 29 stolen bases for Tech in 2025.
The group of four also includes RHP Jonny Lowe (Cisco College/Tyler Junior College) as well as Ryan Free (Grayson College). Lowe made nine appearances and two starts in his debut season at Texas Tech pitching 16 innings.
Tech's group of JUCO newcomers includes catchers AJ Goytia (McClennan) and Matt Quintanar (Blinn College/Central Arizona) as well as infielders Luke Orfi (Florida Southwestern/Georgia Highlands) and Caden Ferraro (Blinn College) and pitchers Donovan Beccera (New Mexico JC), Bryce Suiter (Fort Scott) and Heeryun Han (Los Medanos JC/New Mexico Military Institute).
Two of the latest adds to the Red Raiders roster, Han and Suiter committed back in late July. A native of Korea, Han started his career at New Mexico Military Institute in 2024 before transferring to Los Medanos College.
A true two-way, Han can play middle infield and provides various arm slots from the right-hand side on the mound, while Suiter spent his freshman season at Fort Scott where he went 2-2 with a save pitching to a 3.42 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 23.2 innings.
Also, amongst the group of pitchers, Beccera, was a Texas/New Mexico JUCO All-Star game participant after pitching to 15-3 record with 148 Ks in just 123.2 innings. Beccera pitched to a 4.46 ERA in his two seasons and allowed just 63 walks in those 123.2 innings. NMJC won 80 total games in Beccera's two seasons.
On the offensive ends of things, the Red Raiders also will look to add impact bats up-and-down their roster as the four bats listed above (Ferraro, Goytia, Orfi and Quintanar) all made huge impacts at their various JUCOs in 2025.
A pair of teammates at Blinn College, Ferraro and Quintanar combined to hit 33 home runs in 2025 helping lead Blinn to a 48-15 record and the programs third-straight JUCO World Series appearance.
Transferring in after spending the 2024 season at Central Arizona, Quintanar shined in his first season as a Blinn Buccaneer, hitting .407 with 15 home runs and 57 RBIs. The slugging backstop walked 39 times and was hit eight times and struck out just 23 times in 226 at-bats. At Central Arizona, the Californian hit .347 with eight home runs and 51 RBIs.
When you combine his numbers at the two schools, Quintanar hit .379 with 33 doubles, 23 home runs and 108 RBIs in 116 games at two of the best JUCO schools in the country.
The Red Raiders second Blinn signee, Ferraro, spent two full seasons at Blinn where he hit .376 in 120 games played. The former Texas A&M signee hit 35 doubles and 36 home runs and walked 98 times as compared to just 78 strikeouts.
Tech's third JUCO impact bat, Orfi, also played at a pair of junior colleges before enrolling at Texas Tech as he starred at both Georgia Highlands and Florida Southwestern.
After hitting .438 with a .513 on-base percentage his freshman year at Georgia Highlands, Orfi transferred to Florida Southwestern where he hit .341 with six homers and 42 RBIs. Orfi stole a FLSW program-record 45 bases in 2025 after stealing 56 in 2024, bringing his two-year JUCO total to 101. Orfi hit 16 homers at Highlands before adding the six longballs to bring his two-year total to 22.
PORTAL HAUL:
When the dust settled and the 2025 summer turned to fall the Red Raiders also turned in a strong portal haul, as Texas Tech was aggressive in adding D1 and/or P4 pieces at nearly every position. In total, the Red Raiders added five players in the portal including two proven impact bats in Hollis Porter (Maryland) and Connor Shouse (Georgia Tech) as well redshirt freshman catcher AJ DePaolo (Vanderbilt) and pitchers Kayson Raineri (Hawai'i) and Micah Henson (Kansas State).
The standout of the portal class, Porter arrives in Lubbock after spending his freshman year at Mississippi State (redshirt) before transferring to Pearl River where he starred in 2024 for Wildcats. Porter hit .399 with an OPS of 1.325. In addition to his high average, Porter slugged a program-record 20 long balls, drove in 73 runs and had 45 extra-base hits. Porter was named an NJCAA First Team All-American and was MACCC Player of the Year.
Also a big add in the class, Shouse, arrives in Lubbock after playing his Freshman season at Georgia Tech where he was a contributor on a Yellow Jackets team that won the ACC title and went 40-17. In 34 at-bats and 26 games, Shouse hit .265 with a .991 OPS and had two home runs and nine RBIs.
WEEKEND ROTATION UP FOR GRABS:
With 26 different pitchers on the roster heading into "Fall Ball" the Red Raiders certainly will have a lot of options as they look to replace the entire 2025 starting weekend rotation.
In the mix as returners for a spot in the Red Raiders weekend rotation will be junior Logan Bevis, sophomore Connor Mohan and redshirt freshman Jackson Burns. Two of those three weekend candidates started games for the Red Raiders in various roles in 2025, with one (Bevis) serving as a high-leverage reliever.
Bevis, who spent the summer in the prestigious Cape Cod league whiffed 20 batters in 18.1 innings for the Bourne Braves. The USF transfer pitched to a 3.93 ERA and walked just eight batters. It's Bevis who is slated to take the ball first for the Red Raiders on Saturday afternoon against UT.
The two with starting experience, Mohan and Burns, return for the Scarlet and Black in 2025-26 after various results during their true freshman seasons. After being one of the late breakout starts of the spring ramp-up period, Burns earned the start for the Red Raiders for the game-three finale at No. 6 North Carolina. The appearance for Burns was his first and only of the season as the big righty missed the rest of the season with injury.
On the flip side, Mohan is back after an inaugural campaign that same the DFW product make 12 appearances and six starts (all on the midweek). Through the first couple of fall appearances, Mohan's fastball has flashed up to 96.
The trio listed above as well as Fort Scott product Bryce Suiter, Ryan Free, K-State transfer Micah Henson and others were certainly have something to say when it comes to evolving weekend battle.
A MISSING LINK[IN]:
After spending a prep season at A3 Academy down in Florida, California native Linkin Garcia will factor in as one of the nation's top freshmen in 2026 as well as one of the top newcomers in the Big 12 Conference.
A big body at 6-4, Garcia has the ability to play both positions on the left-side of the infield and even pitched during his high school career.
Garcia was named to Perfect Game's top-50 players to make it to campus earlier in the fall. Â
DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME:
While the Red Raiders roster for 2025 certainly is filled with newcomers galore, a strong returning core highlighted by a pair of big boppers (Robin Villeneuve and Logan Hughes) are back this season. Also, back for the Red Raiders is four-year starting infielder Tracer Lopez, catcher Davis Rivers, Jace Souza and Coleman Ryan.
Another Cape Cod participant this past summer, Hughes returns after leading the Big 12 Conference in home runs (19) during the regular season and after hitting .327. Earlier in the fall, Hughes was named the 20th-best College Draft Eligible hitter and could work his way into the conversation of being a first-round pick. During Big 12 Conference play a season ago, Hughes hit .376 with 11 of his 19 homers and 30 of his 48 ribbies. Hughes had almost as many homers (19) as he did strikeouts (24).
One of the early impact bats from the fall thus far, Rivers will look to build upon the 2025 campaign that saw the Waller native launch 16 extra-base hits in 122 at-bats including five homers. Rivers slugged .434 and now has 22 extra-base hits in just 157 career ABs. Rivers has shined at the dish during the team portion of fall practice as he hit a tape measure home run off the top of the scoreboard in right field last weekend and has ripped a pair of doubles as well.
After missing a large portion of the 2025 season with injury, Souza also flashed in limited time during his first campaign in Lubbock as after making his season debut at Arizona State the Hawaiian had more walks (4) than strikeouts (3) and had six hits in 27 at-bats.
A versatile infielder, Lopez will look to build upon a successful junior season that saw the Texan hit .299 with five homers and 30 RBIs. Lopez made a career-low six errors and fielded at a .974 clip while also stealing 12 bases.
STIFF TEST:
After facing Texas in Las Vegas last season in March, the Red Raiders will lock horns with the Longhorns once again on Saturday afternoon in what looks to be another stiff test after UT went 44-14 overall and 22-8 in their inaugural season in the Southeastern Conference. After winning the regular season, UT earned the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, ultimately falling to UTSA in the Austin Regional.
Returning key contributors like Baseball America National Freshman of the Year Dylan Volantis as well as All-Austin Regional selection Casey Borba, the Longhorns will combine a roster of returners with a recruiting class that featured five players in D1 Baseball's transfer portal rankings including former Notre Dame catcher Carson Tinney (No. 4 hitter) and Wake Forest southpaw (No. 4 pitcher) Haiden Leffew. UTs recruiting class was also named the No. 2 recruiting class by Perfect Game.
UP NEXT:
Once the 12-inning exhibition contest against Texas comes and goes, the Red Raiders will turn their attention to the Oct. 18 scrimmage at OU before closing the fall with the annual Red Black World Series.
