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Texas Tech baseball drops weekend series at Texas to open Big 12 play

By Matthew Conner

BREWSTER, MA - AUGUST 11: Zac Susi of the Bourne Braves warms up in the on deck circle during game one of the Cape Cod League Championship Series against the Brewster Whitecaps at Stony Brook Field on August 11, 2017 in Brewster, Massachusetts. The Cape Cod League was founded in 1885 and is the premier summer baseball league for college athletes. Over 1100 of these student athletes have gone on to compete in MLB including Chris Sale, Carlton Fisk, Joe Girardi, Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek. The chance to see future big league stars up close makes Cape Cod League games a popular activity for the families in each of the 10 towns on the Cape to host a team. Each team is a non-profit organization, relying on labor from volunteers and donations from spectators to run each year. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BREWSTER, MA - AUGUST 11: Zac Susi of the Bourne Braves warms up in the on deck circle during game one of the Cape Cod League Championship Series against the Brewster Whitecaps at Stony Brook Field on August 11, 2017 in Brewster, Massachusetts. The Cape Cod League was founded in 1885 and is the premier summer baseball league for college athletes. Over 1100 of these student athletes have gone on to compete in MLB including Chris Sale, Carlton Fisk, Joe Girardi, Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek. The chance to see future big league stars up close makes Cape Cod League games a popular activity for the families in each of the 10 towns on the Cape to host a team. Each team is a non-profit organization, relying on labor from volunteers and donations from spectators to run each year. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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Over the weekend, the Texas Tech baseball team dropped two of three games against the Longhorns in the first Big 12 series of the season.

The most surprising aspect of this weekend’s series loss by the Texas Tech baseball team was that it was the Red Raider bats that failed to come through for Tim Tadlock’s team.  Tech scored only nine total runs (three in each game) as the Longhorn pitching staff was able to keep the Red Raiders from putting up one of the explosive innings that Tech has made a living off of thus far in 2019 and take the weekend series in Austin two games to one.

After dropping the opener Friday night by a score of 4-3, Tech rebounding with a 3-0 win Saturday afternoon.  The Red Raiders held the Longhorns to just one hit on the day as Caleb Killian and Clayton Beeter combined for the shutout.

Killian was spectacular allowing only one hit and striking out four in 7.0 innings of work.  It was the type of performance Red Raider fans had been waiting to see from the junior who entered the season expected by most to be the staff ace.  But prior to Saturday, he had struggled with an ERA over 9.00 in four starts.  Hopefully, his first win of the season is a sign that he is beginning to regain the type of form he displayed last year when he was the Red Raiders’ best starter and had an ERA below 3.00.

At the plate Saturday, Tech did all of its damage in the top of the eighth inning.  Brian Klein plated Gabe Holt on a sacrifice fly to break a scoreless tie and a Cody Masters’ single plated two more runs to give Tech all the offense it would need.

But Sunday, the Red Raiders could not capitalize on another excellent outing from its starting pitcher in their second 4-3 loss of the series.  Freshman lefty Mason Montgomery got the start and allowed only one run and one hit in five-plus innings.  He was able to work his way around five walks and a wild pitch thanks to four strikeouts, the last of which came in the bottom of the fifth with two runners in scoring position.

However, reliever John McMillon struggled after coming in for Montgomery in the bottom of the sixth.  After allowing an inherited runner to score, he also gave up two more runs as the Horns jumped out to a 3-1 lead.  Texas tacked on another in the eighth off of Kurt Wilson, and that proved to be a huge insurance run.

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That’s because in the ninth, Tech third baseman Josh Jung cut the UT lead to one run on a two-run homer.  The preseason All-American drove in all three Texas Tech runs on the afternoon including a RBI double to open the scoring in the fifth.

Jung has been off to a little bit of a slow start by his standards this year, especially in the power department as opposing teams have been especially careful when pitching to the nation’s top third baseman.  Sunday’s homer was his first long ball of the year and his 3 RBI were his most in a game this year.

But unfortunately, the rest of the Texas Tech offense could not get going in Austin.  First baseman Cam Warren went just 3-12 in the series after being named Big 12 Player of the Week for his 8-RBI performance against Wichita State two weekends ago.  After driving in two runs on Friday night, Warren did not drive in another in the final two games of the weekend.

And the bottom third of the Red Raider lineup was completely shut down all weekend.  Tech’s 7,8 and 9 hitters combined to go just 4-30 (.133) at the plate in the series and failed to drive in a run.

Tech will take a break from Big 12 play this weekend and host No. 23 Michigan for three games from Thursday-Saturday and Stetson for two Sunday-Monday.  Here’s hoping that a return to the friendly confines of Rip Griffin Park will help the Red Raiders rediscover their offensive firepower before they resume conference play with three games at Kansas State March 29-31.

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