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Texas Tech baseball: Red Raiders tabbed as Big 12 favorites once again

By Matthew Conner

Omaha, NE - JUNE 24: A general view of a baseball and glove in the the field, prior to game one of the College World Series Championship Series between the Michigan Wolverines and Vanderbilt Commodores on June 24, 2019 at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
Omaha, NE - JUNE 24: A general view of a baseball and glove in the the field, prior to game one of the College World Series Championship Series between the Michigan Wolverines and Vanderbilt Commodores on June 24, 2019 at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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For the third-straight year, the Texas Tech baseball team has been picked as the preseason Big 12 conference favorites.

In just two weeks, the ping of metal bats will be heard again at Dan Law Field as the Texas Tech baseball team sets out to climb the ultimate mountain and try to bring home the program’s first national championship.  This week, the Big 12 preseason poll was released and to no one’s surprise, Tim Tadlock’s team was again at the top.

Receiving six out of a possible eight first-place votes (there are only nine teams that play baseball in the Big 12 and coaches couldn’t vote for their own team), Tech is the overwhelming favorite to capture another league crown.   That would be four in the last five years.

At No. 2 in the poll is Oklahoma State, which lost to the Red Raiders in a memorable 3-game Super Regional last summer.  Behind the Cowboys sits TCU followed by Oklahoma, Texas, Baylor, West Virginia, Kansas State, and Kansas.

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This is only the third time in the league’s history that a team has topped the preseason poll three-straight years.  But it isn’t surprising given that Tech has been to the College World Series in four of the last six years, including last year when the Red Raiders were one of the last four teams standing for the first time in program history.

Though key members of that team such as infielder Josh Jung, first baseman Cam Warren, and pitcher Caleb Kilian are gone, a host of key players returns.  In fact, Tech led the league with six preseason All-Big 12 selections.

That list includes Dylan Neuse, second baseman Brian Klein, catcher Braxton Fulford and three pitchers John McMillon, Micah Dallas and Clayton Beeter.  Klien was in fact named a preseason All-American.

Last year, he hit .315 with 57 RBI and three homers.  He also had a pair of homers in Omaha, making him the first Red Raider with multiple round-trippers at a single CWS.

The Red Raiders are also a consensus top 10 team in the national polls sitting as high at No. 3 in the rankings of  USA Today, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, and Perfect Game.  That’s due in large part to the fact that two-thirds of last year’s weekend rotation and a handful of key bullpen arms are back for another run.

This should be an exciting season in Lubbock again.  Non-conference teams such as Rice, Oregon, Minnesota, and New Mexico will be playing at Rip Griffin Park while Big 12 rivals Texas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Kansas State will also come to the Hub City.

Tech opens the season on February 14 against Houston Baptist before a double-header on the 15th against HBU and Northern Colorado.  Though it doesn’t quite feel like baseball season yet, Red Raider fans are already gearing up for another spring on the diamond where our Red Raiders should once again be one of the nation’s top teams.

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