Texas Tech baseball: Mistakes costly in sloppy loss to Michigan

Saturday, the Texas Tech baseball team lost to Michigan 5-3 to open the College World Series in a game where sloppy and costly Red Raider mistakes told the story.

When playing against the best teams in the country, errors and mistakes are amplified. And Saturday in Omaha, the Texas Tech baseball team learned that lesson on the hard way in a 5-3 loss to Michigan.

Head coach Tim Tadlock saw his team throw two wild pitches, allow a passed ball and commit a critical error in the field to fall into the losers’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament. In addition, Tech failed to execute in other ways such as getting tags down on pick off plays that should have been outs and failing to move runners along, all contributing to a frustrating afternoon at T.D. Ameritrade Park.

Never trailing in the game, Michigan jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st to capitalize on Tech’s fist mistake of the game. After leadoff hitter Jordan Nwogu singled, he was able to advance to second on a passed ball by Red Raider catcher Braxton Fulford. After a ground out moved Nwogu to third with just one away, he scored on a sacrifice fly by Jordan Brewer. Had Tech not given Nwogu a free base, Michigan would have gone quietly in their first at-bat.

In the 3rd, Michigan plated three more runs off Tech starter Micah Dallas to jump out to a 4-0 lead. The freshman was unable to hit his spots in the strike zone and left too many pitches up leading to one of his most disappointing outings of the last two months. In just 3.0 innings of work, he allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits while walking one, striking out two and throwing a wild pitch.

And again in that inning, Tech could have helped limit the damage but could not execute. With runners at first and second, Dallas had Michigan’s Jessee Franklin picked off at second but he and shortstop Josh Jung could not connect on the throw to the base. Franklin would score on a triple by Jimmy Kerr later in that same at-bat to push the lead to 3-0.

And in the bottom of the 7th, Jung’s throwing error to first base allowed the Wolverines to score their fifth run after Tech had cut the lead to 4-3. On what was a bang-bang play, Jung’s throw short-hopped Warren at first base and bounced away allowing UM to extend its lead.

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But the frustration for Texas Tech was not merely contained to the field. At the plate, the Red Raiders struggle once again to hit with runners in scoring position. Going 0-7, Tech stranded eight men on base.

That included going 0-3 in the 6th after Jung led off the inning with an infield single and Warren followed with a double. Jung would score on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Dru Baker but that was sandwiched between a comebacker to the pitcher by Cody Masters and a strike out of Kurt Wilson to keep Tech from putting up a big number.

In all, Michigan starter Karl Kauffman was able to keep Tech’s powerful lineup off balance for most of the game. Tossing seven complete innings, the second round pick of the Colorado Rockies gave up just three runs on eight hits while striking out three and walking none. The only real blemish on his day was the two-run homer he surrendered to Red Raider second baseman Brian Klein in the bottom of the 3rd to cut the lead to 4-2.

Unfortunately, the clutch hit never came for the Red Raiders, who left at least one runner on base in each of their last five plate appearances, including two in the bottom of the ninth when Klein struck out with Dylan Neuse on first and Braxton Fulford on second. Going back to the Super Regionals, Tech has now left 30 men on base in its last four games. And in Omaha where homers are tough to come by, teams can’t rely on solo homers to make up the difference as the Raiders did against the Cowboys last weekend in Lubbock.

Tech will try to keep its season alive Monday afternoon against the loser of Saturday night’s Florida State and Arkansas game. But regardless of the opponent, the Red Raiders will have to execute much better than they did against the Wolverines if they hope to avoid being swept out of Omaha for the second time in their four trips to the College World Series.