Texas Tech baseball begins Big 12 play with huge series vs. Longhorns

This weekend, the Texas Tech baseball team will open Big 12 play with three games against the Texas Longhorns in a showdown of top-25 teams.

Though the eyes of most Texas Tech fans will be focused on the NCAA Tournament bracket, which will be revealed on Sunday afternoon, the Texas Tech baseball team is set to play a huge early-season series in Austin. To open Big 12 play, the Red Raiders and the Longhorns will square off in a marquee series of top-25 teams. Tech is ranked as high as No. 7 in the national polls and sits at No. 3 in the NCAA RPI rankings while the Horns are ranked as high as 10 in the nation and are No. 32 in the RPI.

Tech is playing well ahead of the first Big 12 series of the year having won its last five games to move to 11-3 on the season. The Raiders enter the series as the top scoring team in the conference and No. 5 in the nation at 9.1 runs per game. The Red Raiders also lead the Big 12 in homers (20) and slugging percentage (0.511).

Meanwhile, UT is winning with pitching. Their team ERA of 2.96 is 27th best in the nation and they are giving up just 6..64 hits per nine innings (16th best in the nation). Even more impressive is the fact that they have four pitchers on the roster that have thrown over 14 innings and maintained and ERA under 2.00. But like the Tech staff, Longhorn pitchers have struggled with walks thus far allowing 77 in 19 games.

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The Longhorns have been a tough team to figure out. They picked up a huge sweep of No. 2 LSU in Austin two weekends ago but they followed that up by dropping three out of four games at Stanford. In addition, they have dropped games to UT-San Antonio, Louisiana-Lafayette and Purdue.

Last season, the Horns came to Lubbock and took two of three games at Dan Law Field on their way to winning the Big 12 regular season title. This year’s series also figures to play a large part in determining the conference champion.

Tonight’s matchup pits two quality starters against one another. Tech will send Erikson Lanning and his 1.69 ERA to the mound opposite of UT’s Bryce Elder, who boasts a 1.54 ERA.

Saturday, Tech’s Caleb Killian looks to get back on track and improve on his bloated 9.19 ERA. In four starts this year, he has allowed 17 total runs after posting a stellar 3.24 ERA last season as a sophomore. He will be opposed by Blair Henley who has struggled himself with a 4.79 ERA thus far. The series will conclude with Tech throwing freshman lefty Mason Montgomery (2-0, 5.02 ERA) against a Longhorn pitcher yet to be named.

It will be interesting to see these two teams with opposing styles square off. Tech has bashed their way through the season while the Horns have been playing small-ball. The Horns are hitting just .264 as a team but have benefitted by drawing the most walks in the Big 12 (102).

This could be an opportunity for the Red Raider pitching staff to finally rebound after a rough start to the season. They have a team ERA of 4.18 and have allowed nine runs or more four times. But some of that can be attributed to playing in some particularly gusty conditions in Lubbock where the winds have made it nearly impossible for pitchers to escape unscathed.

As proof of that, in four games away from Dan Law Field, Tech’s ERA is just 3.50. Hopefully this weekend in Austin, the Red Raiders are able to put together three quality pitching performances at Disch-Faulk Field, which is not nearly as hitter-friendly as the Red Raiders’ home park.

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Friday’s game begins at 6:30 pm with first pitch Saturday at 2 pm and Sunday at 1. All three games can be seen on the Longhorn Network. This will be a nice measuring stick for Tim Tadlock’s team. And if Tech is truly a top-10 team, this is a series they should expect to win.

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