Texas Tech baseball: Red Raiders sweep mid-week series vs. Southern

Continuing to play strong baseball to open the year, the Texas Tech baseball team swept a pair of mid-week games against Southern to move to 8-1.

The Texas Tech baseball team continues to crush opposing pitching at Dan Law Field. After scoring 65 runs in the first four home games of the year, the Red Raiders returned to their friendly confines this week after a weekend series in Round Rock and picked up right where they left off by sweeping a two-game set from Southern.

In the first two mid-week games of the year, Tech racked up 23 total runs. For the year, they are averaging 14.6 runs per game in their home park.

Both games were blown open with huge innings early in the contest. Tuesday, the Red Raiders plated six runs in the bottom of the third inning on the way to a 13-2 win.

Of course, by that point, the home team was already up 6-0 after a pair of 3-run innings to open the afternoon. Freshman Cal Conley and sophomore Cole Stilwell drove in five runs on a pair of doubles before junior Dylan Neuse tacked on another with an RBI single to right.

In Wednesday’s 10-3 triumph, it was the second inning when the Red Raiders put the game out of reach. Up 2-0, Tech sent 11 men to the plate scoring five runs.

Brian Klein, Cole Stillwell, and Neuse all had RBI singles while Braxton Fulford drove home a run with a bases-loaded walk. Offensive explosions have been common for the Red Raiders this year as they have already had three six-run innings thus far in nine games.

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On the mound, the pitching staff continued its early-season dominance as well. In game one, Mason Montgomery moved to 2-0 on the year after throwing five scoreless innings. The sophomore lefty allowed a mere three hits and three walks while striking out seven over the course of 75 pitches.

Tuesday, Hunter Dobbins made his first start of the year. Also tossing five innings to pick up the win, he gave up just a single run in the first and one more in the fourth while striking out ten and walking just two.

As a team, Tech has a 3.04 ERA while striking out 107 hitters in 77 innings pitched. Those numbers back up what many were saying prior to the season, this very well could be Tim Tadlock’s deepest and most talented pitching staff in his time in Lubbock.

Winning these mid-week series is often an overlooked aspect of a baseball season for fans. After all, the weekend games tend to be the showcase series, especially when conference play begins.

However, when it comes down to national seeding for the NCAA Tournament, it’s often these mid-week games that prove to be the difference in how the nation’s best teams are seeded. And what often tips the scales in such games is the starting pitching as the truly elite teams have more depth in their starting rotation than their mid-week opponents and if Montgomery and Dobbins prove to be as solid this year as they were this week against Southern, it will bode well for Tech’s chances of earning one of the coveted top-8 national seeds, which assures home-field advantage in the first two weekends of the NCAA Tournament.

The Red Raiders now head into one of those marquee weekend series as they travel to Tallahassee for three games. Friday night, they will tangle with Florida Atlantic before two games against No. 14 Florida State.

Next. Tech baseball has solid weekend in Round Rock. dark

Of course, Tech fans will remember that the Red Raiders eliminated the Seminoles from last year’s College World Series with a 4-1 win to become one of the last four teams standing in Omaha. There will be less at stake this time around but it will prove to be a fascinating measuring stick for the Red Raiders as they head into an opponent’s home stadium for the first time this year. Hopefully, they remember to pack the same bats they’ve been swinging thus far in Lubbock.

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