Texas Tech baseball: Defensive brilliance leads Tech to win over UCONN

Friday in Lubbock, the Texas Tech baseball team took down UCONN 4-3 thanks to a collection of brilliant defensive plays.

They say that defense wins championships but that cliche is seldomly applied to the world of college baseball where offense normally rules the day.  However, defense was what saved the Red Raiders from potentially falling to UCONN Friday in game one of a four-game weekend series in Lubbock.

With two out in the top of the 9th inning and the potential game-tying run on second base, UCONN’s T.C. Simmons singled to right field and appeared to have tied the contest.  But Tech’s Parker Kelly, who had moved over from third base to begin the inning, gathered the ball and fired a strike to home plate to nail Kevin Ferrer for the game’s final out to secure a 4-3 win, the Red Raiders’ third-straight one-run victory.

It was the final in a series of fantastic defensive plays for the Red Raiders.  And each would prove to be critical on a day when the Red Raider offense was not at its usual potency.

Prior to Kelly’s dramatics, the defensive play of the day had belonged to Tech’s starting right fielder Easton Murrell.  In the top of the 5th, with Tech leading 3-1 and a Husky on second base with just one out, Murrell made a diving catch on a looping line drive.  He then popped up and fired the ball to second base to double up the visitors and end the inning.

But that wasn’t his only highlight reel play of the afternoon.  Just an inning later, the junior from Prosper would take away another base hit from the Huskies by again laying out to snag a tough fly ball.

https://twitter.com/TTU_Baseball/status/1370491219156041728?s=20

While those plays were huge, especially the first because it saved a run, they might not have been as impressive from an athletic standpoint as Dylan Neuse’s diving catch in center field in the top of the 7th.  On that play, the Red Raider speedster robbed Ferrer of extra bases by covering enough ground to make up two counties before laying out to complete the larceny.

All of that defense was needed on a day when only three Red Raiders would collect a hit.   And of the six base knocks that Tech mustered as a team, four came from the offensive hero of the day, shortstop Cal Conley.

More from Wreck'Em Red

• Texas Tech football: Red Raider fans need to know about these Mountaineers
• Texas Tech football: Red Raiders land first commit for class of 2025
• Texas Tech football: Why have the Red Raiders struggled on the road under McGuire?
• Texas Tech football: Why the Red Raiders can compete for a Big 12 title
• Texas Tech football: Plenty of questions remain as conference play arrives

Going 4-4 on the day, the former transfer from Miami drove in three runners.  In fact, he was the only Red Raider to collect an RBI as Tech’s fourth run, the game-winner, would come via a throwing error by UCONN pitcher Kenneth Hause, who overthrew first base on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Dru Baker allowing Kurt Wilson to score.

As for the Red Raider pitching staff, it was another solid day on the mound.  Brandon Birdsell got the start and tossed a career-high 6.0 innings giving up only one run on four hits while racking up five strikeouts to pick up the win to move to 2-0 on the season.

After that, a foursome of Red Raider relievers would combine to give up just two runs in three innings with Connor Queen picking up the save by registering the last two outs of the 9th.  It was his first save of the season.

Since the Red Raider pitching staff was bludgeoned by three top-10 teams in the nation to open the season, it has since yielded no more than four runs in a game.  That’s been a huge reason for the team’s current 11-game winning streak.  But on Friday, the defense stole the show and saved the day proving that this Red Raider team can win games in a variety of ways.