Texas Tech baseball: Tech opens Big 12 Tournament by drubbing Baylor

Heading into a weekend where many believe that a top-eight national seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament is on the line, the Texas Tech baseball team helped its cause on Wednesday with an 11-4 win over Baylor to open the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City.

Lefty Mason Montgomery was in peak form on the mound as he struck out eleven Bears in just five innings of work while allowing no runs and only two hits. Picking up the win to move to 4-3 on the season, Montgomery had his second-straight impressive five-inning start after holding Oklahoma to a run on six hits back on May 16.

At the plate, the hero of the day was Dru Baker. The Red Raider left fielder led off the game with a homer on his way to a 4-5 day that saw him drive in three runs and score three runs while coming up just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

First baseman Nate Rombach was also on his game as he went 3-4 at the plate. Also driving home three runners on the day, the second-year freshman has now collected three RBI in each of his last three games.

Tech did what it needed to by jumping out to an early lead against the Bears. In fact, after scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning, the Red Raiders chased Baylor starter, Cam Caley, from the game.

The BU pen wouldn’t fare much better though as Tech would score in each of the next three innings to take an 8-0 lead after four innings. In all, the Red Raider offense would rack up 11 hits and draw 12 walks on the day. What’s more, this marks the fourth time in the Red Raiders’ last six games that they have scored double-digit runs.

If there was a concern for Tech on Wednesday, it would have to be the somewhat shaky work of the bullpen. Not wanting to use his best relievers in the blowout, head coach Tim Tadlock got some work for some of the lesser-used pieces in his pen and at times, it was a bit of an adventure.

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Andrew Devine would give up a run in an inning of work as his disappointing season continues. His ERA now sits at 12.21 for the year after he posted a 1.23 ERA in six appearances in 2020.

Following him, Chase Webster would allow three earned runs on two hits and a walk without registering an out. But fortunately, Eli Riechman, Brendan Girton, and Derek Bridges would close out the game without giving up any more runs. However, in the ninth inning, Bridges would load the bases by plunking three Bears before settling down to end the game.

Tech now awaits the winner of this afternoon’s game between Kansas State and TCU. But more importantly, the Red Raiders put another bullet point on the positive side of their resume by dominating a team that took two of three games from them in the regular season. Hopefully, today’s redemptive victory brought Tadlock’s squad one step closer to being a top-eight national seed and making the road to Omaha go through Lubbock.

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