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Texas Tech baseball: A pair of comeback wins polish off perfect week

By Matthew Conner

CORAL GABLES, FL - JUNE 2: Head coach Tim Tadlock #6 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on as the players warm up prior to the game against the Miami Hurricanes in during the Coral Gables Regional at the NCAA Baseball Tournament on June 2, 2014 at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, Florida. Miami defeated Texas Tech 2-1 in ten innings to force a championship game. ((Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
CORAL GABLES, FL - JUNE 2: Head coach Tim Tadlock #6 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders looks on as the players warm up prior to the game against the Miami Hurricanes in during the Coral Gables Regional at the NCAA Baseball Tournament on June 2, 2014 at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field in Coral Gables, Florida. Miami defeated Texas Tech 2-1 in ten innings to force a championship game. ((Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /
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Two-thirds of the weekend rotation struggled mightily

The most important development from this week was the struggles of starters Bryce Bonnin and Austin Becker.  That duo is expected to be a huge part of this year’s weekend rotation and they will need to be better in Big 12 play than they were against former Southwest Conference rival Rice.

Saturday, Bonnin made it through just 1.2 innings.  He surrendered six runs (all earned) on seven hits while striking out three and walking two.

The hard-throwing junior was what is known in baseball as being “wild in the zone”.  That means that he was throwing strikes but was unable to hit his spots thus leaving too many balls over the heart of the plate.

In just facing just 13 hitters, he gave up three doubles in his worst outing of the year to this point. It was his second-straight outing in which he has been touched for seven hits and coming on the heels of allowing four runs in four innings at Florida State, his ERA has ballooned to 7.36.

Sunday, Tech could have used a nice long start from Austin Becker after having to utilize five relievers in the previous game.  Unfortunately, the Vanderbilt transfer recorded only one out over the course of 27 pitches.

Becker allowed four runs (three earned) before giving way to Andrew Divine who closed out the first by keeping the Owls from doing any more damage.  Walks were Becker’s main problem as he gave away four free passes to the seven hitters he faced.

His ERA is now at 6.39 and, like Bonnin, he’s been less than dominant in his last two starts after he gave up three runs in 4.1 innings last weekend in Tallahassee.  Now, there’s a question as to whether Tadlock will make changes to his weekend rotation.

Micah Dallas, last year’s Friday night starter, is pitching well this year.  Coming out of the bullpen, he’s been a weapon so Tadlock may not want to move him from that role.  Still, with an ERA of 0.57 in 15.2 innings this year, he’s worth considering for a weekend rotation role.  The sophomore pitched against Rice for three innings on Friday and two on Sunday allowing no runs and only one hit.

There are other potential options should Tadlock decide to change his weekend rotation including both mid-week starters, Hunter Dobbins (1.29 ERA) and Mason Montgomery (1.99 ERA), who were both dominant against UNLV.  In the end, it’s likely that Tadlock stays the course with his weekend rotation but given that the next weekend series brings the start of Big 12 play, it’s a situation to keep an eye on.

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