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Young Guns: Texas Tech Baseball Counting On Numerous Underclassmen

By Matthew Conner

Jun 23, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders pitcher Erikson Lanning (21) pitches in the first inning against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at the 2016 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 23, 2016; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders pitcher Erikson Lanning (21) pitches in the first inning against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at the 2016 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports /
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The No. 5 ranked Texas Tech baseball team begins play in the NCAA Tournament today and its fortunes will depend on a stellar group of underclassmen.

Conventional wisdom suggests that experienced players are the ones upon which successful teams must rely, especially in the postseason.  However, Tim Tadlock’s Texas Tech baseball team heads into today’s regional tournament counting on an unusually high number of underclassmen to play crucial roles.

Four of the team’s top nine hitters are underclassmen with three being freshmen.  First year players Grant Little (.342 batting average), Michael Berglund (.311) and Josh Jung (.310) and sophomore Cody Farhat (.354) have been mainstays in a Texas Tech offense that has averaged over seven runs per game.  Jung was recently honored as the Big 12 Freshman of the Year.

Those four have accumulated 121 RBI, 12 homers and 157 runs scored.  In addition, all four have fielding percentages of at least .977 helping boost the Red Raiders to No. 23 in the nation in that category.

While the new blood in the lineup helped the offense reload after losing several key members from last year’s team, the youth movement is not contained to just the batter’s box.  The Texas Tech baseball team boasts one of the best pitching rotations in the nation and that group is built around four second-year players.

Sophomore lefty Steven Gingery was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year after going 9-1 with a 1.69 ERA in 14 starts.  His classmates, Davis Martin, Ryan Shetter and Erikson Lanning have also been excellent with a combined ERA of 3.19.

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The four sophomore starters for Tim Tadlock have a stunning record of 19-4 on the season.  That amounts to 44% of the Red Raiders 43 wins in 2017.

What makes this group of pitchers unique is that they are far more experienced than normal sophomores.  All four were integral members of last season’s College World Series team and each has pitched on the game’s biggest stage.  Despite their relative youth, they will not be overwhelmed by the atmosphere of this weekend’s action in Lubbock.

Last season saw the Red Raiders reach Omaha due to the leadership of upperclassmen Eric Gutierrez, Stephen Smith, Corey Raley and Tyler Neslony.  And this year’s team must have solid contributions from veterans like conference co-player of the year Hunter Hargrove, Ryan Long, Michael Davis and Orlando Garcia.

Next: Scouting The Lubbock Regional

But the Texas Tech baseball team will go only as far as the young guns on the roster takes it this postseason.  Thus far, underclassmen have carried the Red Raiders to a national ranking and a Big 12 regular season title.  Now we are about to find out if they can take the program to the next level.

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