Texas Tech Baseball One Win From Advancing After Beating Louisville

The Texas Tech baseball team defeated the Louisville Cardinals 10-4 Saturday night at Rip Griffin Park moving to within one win of advancing in the NCAA Tournament.

Saturday saw two significant streaks broken in Lubbock. For the first time in four days, the temperature did not reach 100 degrees, topping out at 98. And for the first time in 5 years, the Louisville Cardinals lost a game in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament thanks to the Texas Tech baseball team.

In a matchup of two of the sport’s newest powerhouse programs, it was the Red Raiders moving within a win of claiming the Lubbock Regional with a convincing 10-4 win. Between the Raiders and the Cardinals, there have been six College World Series appearances since 2007 with Tech reaching Omaha in 2014 and 2016 and Louisville doing the same in 2007, 2013-14 and 2017.

Caleb Kilian, a sophomore righty from Flower Mound, Texas got the start on the mound for Tech and turned in another fantastic performance. In 5.1 innings of work, Kilian surrendered just two runs on four hits while striking out four as he moved to 9-1 on the season.

Kilian has emerged as the unlikely ace of this year’s Texas Tech pitching staff. After starting just one game as a freshman and tossing 38.0 innings with a 3.55 ERA, most did not pencil Kilian into the starting rotation in February.

But the loss of 2017 ace Stephen Gingery to Tommy John’s surgery and the recent struggles of Davis Martin meant that another Red Raider hurler would have to step up and that is exactly what Kilian has done.

On the season, he has a 2.89 ERA in 19 appearances (9 starts) while surrendering just four homers in 64 innings, an impressive feat considering that he plays at Dan Law Field where the wind almost always blows out to left center creating a hitter’s paradise. But hitters have not enjoyed facing Kilian who has held opponents to a .209 batting average in 68 innings of work this year.

And when Kilian’s night was complete, a familiar face from the Texas Tech bullpen closed the door. Junior Ty Harpeneau provided 3.2 innings of relief to end the game, matching Kilian with just two runs allowed on four hits.

In his 22nd appearance on the season, all in relief, the junior earned his third save and helped keep the bullpen fresh heading into a Sunday evening game that could require extra work from the pen should presumed starter Davis Martin continue to struggle.

Martin has allowed at least four earned runs in each of his last four starts failing to reach the fifth inning in three of those contests. In fact, in his two most recent starts, Martin has averaged just 3.0 innings while allowing five runs to Oklahoma State and eight runs to West Virginia. But should a short leash be needed, Tadlock has a rested pen, which has used only four pitchers thus far in the regional.

And that well-rested pitching staff has been kept relatively free from stress by the powerful Texas Tech bats which have provided early cushions in both games this weekend. After being held silent in the first two innings Saturday, the Red Raider lineup score multiple runs in four of the next five innings including three apiece in the third and fourth to jump out to a 6-2 lead after four.

Brian Klein had three hits on the night and was one of four Raiders with two RBI as Tech racked up ten hits. Sophomore third-baseman Josh Jung had a two-run homer in the seventh to cap the scoring but it was small-ball that put Texas Tech up for good.

More from Wreck'Em Red

With the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the third, Grant Little worked a bases loaded walk to give Texas Tech its first lead of the night. Then, a balk by Louisville starter Nick Bennett (8-2) gave Tech it’s third run of the inning and Tim Tadlock’s team would not trail again.

The victory by the Red Raiders snapped a 16-game winning streak in the regional round of the NCAA Tournament for Louisville. The Cardinals have won five-consecutive regionals in the NCAA Tournament, the longest streak in the nation by far (three other teams have won three-in-a-row).

But all five of those regional wins have come at home. This year, playing on the road, Louisville will have to win three-straight games if it is to extend it’s streak to six and they will have to do so by twice beating a Texas Tech baseball team that has lost just five times at home this year.

However, last year’s Lubbock Regional should serve as a cautionary tale for Red Raider fans. After winning the first two games of the regional at home, Tech dropped consecutive games to Sam Houston St. in shocking fashion eliminating the 2017 Big 12 regular season champs from the tournament.

Next: Baseball Drills NM State

This year’s team is loaded with players who were on hand for last season’s melt-down and that experience should pay dividends. Again one win away from a birth in the Super Regionals and having snapped one of the most impressive steaks in the sport, the Texas Tech baseball team will look to make sure they don’t allow their own dubious streak to begin by taking care of business this time around.

Home/Texas Tech Red Raiders News