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Texas Tech baseball: Montgomery, Conley led Tech to series win over Mountaineers

By Matthew Conner

HOUSTON, TEXAS - MARCH 06: Cal Conley #13 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders throws to first base against the Sam Houston State Bearkats at Minute Maid Park on March 06, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS - MARCH 06: Cal Conley #13 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders throws to first base against the Sam Houston State Bearkats at Minute Maid Park on March 06, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /
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For the Texas Tech baseball team to be one of the national seeds in this year’s NCAA Tournament, stacking up series wins is imperative.  That’s exactly what Tech did on Sunday with a 10-1 thumping of West Virginia in Morgantown to take this weekend’s series two games to one.

The star of the day for Tim Tadlock’s bunch was starting pitcher Mason Montgomery.  In what was his best outing of the season, the sophomore lefty tossed 6.2 innings allowing only one run on two hits while striking out 12 on 105 pitches to pick up the win.

Prior to Sunday, Montgomery’s longest outing had been six innings against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and his single-game high in Ks was 9 (a total that came in the same game).  Entering the finale with the Mountaineers, he had not picked up a win since his second start of the season on February 28 but he stepped up in a huge way to help Tech clinch a series over the team that entered the weekend just a game behind the Red Raiders in the conference standings.

Meanwhile, the offense did what it usually does on a Sunday.  Scoring 10 runs, Tech hit double-digits on a Sunday for the fourth time this year.  That’s important because Sunday games are where Big 12 series are often decided.

With a homer from each side of the plate, shortstop Cal Conley was the hero with the bat.  Going 4-5 on the day with 4 RBI, he provided enough scoring on his own to outpace the home team.  He was one of eight Red Raiders with at least one base hit on the afternoon and one of three with multiple base-knocks as Tech pounded out 14 hits in total.   And as is so often the case with the Red Raiders, one huge inning broke this game wide open.

In the sixth inning, a frame that began with Tech massaging a 4-1 lead, the Red Raiders would plate six runs and send ten hitters to the plate.  And as usual, Jace Jung was in the middle of all the fireworks.

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After seeing Tech plate an unearned run, Jung would double with the bases loaded to bring home two runs to bring his season RBI total to 50.  The freshman entered the weekend leading the nation with 46 and he continues to pace the field after another productive series.

Tech now moves to into third place in the Big 12 standings at 7-5 overall trailing Texas and TCU which both sit at 10-2.  Interestingly, the Red Raiders will now take a break from Big 12 play this week by playing…a Big 12 team.

On Tuesday, the Red Raiders will face Oklahoma in Amarillo in a game that will not count towards the conference race.  Rather, this is meant to be a showcase game for Hodgetown Ballpark, home of the minor league Amarillo Sod Poodles.  The Sooners and Red Raiders will meet again in the season’s second-to-last Big 12 series in Norman May 14-16.

But for Tech, it will be important to keep the momentum rolling as April starts to draw to a close and May nears.  And that’s exactly what Tech did this weekend by taking two of three games in Morgantown.

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