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Texas Tech baseball: Red Raiders rally past Gonzaga

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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Tuesday night in Lubbock, the Texas Tech baseball team rallied for a thrilling 5-4 victory over Gonzaga.

Whenever Texas Tech and Gonzaga meet, it seems like the game is always interesting.  That was the case again on Tuesday night when the two universities that have had a pair of thrilling NCAA basketball tournament games between them met on the diamond in Lubbock.

Designated hitter Nate Rombach delivered the game-winning 3-RBI double in the bottom of the 7th and freshman reliever Brendan Girton slammed the door shut by recording the final five outs of the game as the Red Raiders moved to 9-3 overall having not dropped a game since losing the season’s first three contests.

Often, mid-week games can be rather lopsided, high-scoring affairs.  However, the two starting pitchers in this one made certain that wasn’t to be the case.

Texas Tech righty Micah Dallas gave up only a run and scattered six hits in six complete innings of work.  Over the course of 74 pitches, he struck out four and walked none as he dropped his ERA to 1.98.  However, he was overshadowed by Gonzaga starter Alek Jacob.

The lanky righty used his side-arm delivery and assortment of off-speed pitches to keep the powerful Red Raider lineup off balance most of the night.  He would end his night giving up two runs over the course of 109 pitches while striking out eleven in 6.1 innings of work.

In fact, Jacob would exit the game with his team ahead 3-2 in the 7th.  But that’s when the game-defining Red Raider rally would begin to take shape.  Following Jacob’s departure, the Gonzaga bullpen would walk Drew Woodcox, Dru Baker, and Dylan Deuse to load the bases.  Then, with two out, Rombach would clear the bases by drilling a ball into the left-center gap.

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It was the only time on the evening that Rombach would put the ball in play as he fanned twice and walked once.  The freshman is now hitting .324 on the season and has 14 RBI. But following Rombach’s huge base knock, the Zags would mount one more rally.

In the top of the 8th, a double and two walks would put the Zags in position to retake the lead with only one out in the inning.  But that’s when Tadlock turned to Girton.

The freshman from Oklahoma who possesses a fastball that tops out in the mid-90s has already appeared in some high-leverage situations for Tech this year but he started this appearance off in a rather shaky fashion as he beaned the second hitter he faced to bring home a run to make it a 5-4 game.

However, his second strikeout of the inning would retire the side.  And in the 9th, Girton would sandwich two more strikeouts around a fly-out to right field to send the Red Raider faithful home happy.

The two teams will close out this mid-week set on Wednesday at 1 pm with Tech looking to run its current winning streak to 10 games.  Hopefully, that happens and hopefully, we see another game as entertaining as the one that played out at Rip Griffin Park on Tuesday night.

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