Tech Plays Hot Missouri Squad

March 27, 2001

MISSOURI:
The Missouri Tigers will bring a record of 15-10-1 to Simmons Field this weekend where they will face the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Missouri is fresh off an impressive Big 12 series win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln, Nebraska. Missouri earned the series win 2-1 over the Huskers at Buck Beltzer Stadium.

The Tigers earned their second-straight series win over an opponent ranked in the Top 10 as they defeated Pepperdine (3/16-3/18) in Columbia and then went on the road to beat Nebraska.

Missouri has won 10 of their last 12 games and currently sit two games behind Texas Tech in seventh place in the league standings. Missouri does have one tie on the year as they played San Jose State to a 0-0 score through six innings before the game was called.

The Tiger pitching staff tallies a 3.89 ERA which places them fifth overall in the league standings. The leading hurler for the Tigers has been Drew Endicott who has an ERA of 5.36 and an overall record of 2-4. Leading the Missouri offense has been Mick Weiss and Jayce Tingler who are hitting .319 on the year with 30 hits each.

The Tigers are coached by Tim Jamieson who is 210-151-1 in his seventh season at Missouri. Of Note - Missouri is the only school in the Big 12 North to have qualifed for the Big12 Tournament every season.

THE RED RAIDERS
Texas Tech hits the road again this weekend for its third Big 12 series on away from Lubbock. Texas Tech will take a 21-12 overall record and 6-6 mark in the Big 12 to Columbia, Mo. where they will take on the Missouri Tigers. Texas Tech is fresh off their third straight Big 12 series win as they took two of three from nationally ranked Oklahoma State at Dan Law Field this past weekend.

Texas Tech currently sits in sixth place just ahead of Missouri in the league standings and is in need of a series win at Missouri to keep its conference title hopes alive. The Red Raiders will utilize the same pitching rotation against Missouri that has been so effective the past two conference weekends.

Junior right-handed pitcher Chris Phillips continues to turn heads all across the country as he picked up his eighth win of the season on Sunday giving him three-straight complete games.

RED RAIDERS ON THE AIR
For the eighth consecutive season, the entire Texas Tech baseball game schedule will be broadcast live on the Red Raider Radio Network and made available to its statewide affiliates. Play-By-Play voice of the Red

Raiders Mark Finkner will make the call in this his sixth season. He will be joined by popular color commentator Ryan Hyatt who will be in the broadcast booth for his fourth season. Finkner and Hyatt will host a 20-minute pregame show and will have postgame interviews with players and coaches. Tech baseball games can be heard locally on KKAM 1340 AM.

LAST TIME OUT
Chris Phillips pitched his third straight complete game and picked up his eighth win of the season to lead the Red Raiders to a 10-2 win over No. 14 Oklahoma State in the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday. The Cowboys rebounded in the final game of the series behind the pitching of Scott Baker to beat Texas Tech 2-1.

With the doubleheader split on Sunday, Texas Tech moved its record to 21-12 and 6-6 in the Big 12 while Oklahoma State went to 22-7 overall and 7-5 in the league. Texas Tech won the series 2-1 giving Tech its first series win over Oklahoma State since the 1998 season.

In first game on Sunday, Chris Phillips (8-1) gave up just two runs, six hits and struckout seven batters to pick up his eighth win of the year. The Texas Tech offense pounded out 10 runs on 12 hits and was led by the hot bat of Kerry Hodges who went 2 for 4 with three RBI.

Oklahoma State had the upper hand on the mound in the second game of the day as the Cowboy hurler Scott Baker (5-1) pitched eight innings while surrendering just one run on five hits. Shane Hawk came into relieve Baker in the eighth and pitched two shutout innings to pick up his third save of the year.

The Cowboys scored both their runs in the top of the first off of Tech junior Matt Harbin. Texas Tech plated its only run in the bottom of the fourth when Chad Landry hit an RBI single to right field plating shortstop Gera Alvarez.

Texas Tech had a runner on first base in the bottom of the ninth but Hawk sat down the next three batters to salvage a win for Oklahoma State.

RED RAIDERS ON THE PROWL
Through 33 games this season, Texas Tech has stolen an impressive 76 bases and been caught just 13 times for a success rate of .853%. Kerry Hodges has been Tech's leading base snatcher as he has stolen 22 bags and been caught just once. Hodges leads the Big 12 in stolen bases while Gera Alvarez and Tyler Carson are third and fourth respectively.

CARSON HITS HIS FIRST LONG BALL
Junior center fielder Tyler Carson finally got one to leave the park on Sunday as he hit his first career home run over the left field fence in the first game of the doubleheader. Carson's solo home run gave Tech a 10-2 lead over Oklahoma State which ended up to be the final run scored in the game. Carson gave Tech its 30th home run of the season which is second in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma State. Austin Cranford and Stephen Leist are the only Red Raiders (who have played more than 20 games) who have not hit a home run this season.

TECH HURLERS LIGHTING UP THE MOUND
The Red Raider pitching staff has been nothing short of dominating over the last two weekends of Big 12 Conference play. This weekend, the staff held the hot bats of Oklahoma State to just four runs over 27 innings of play. The four runs by Oklahoma State was a season low for the Cowboys in a three-game series. Senior Brandon Roberson pitched a seven inning shutout and could have gone the distance but severe weather postponed the game until Saturday. Blake McGinley finished the Friday game on Saturday with a two inning shutout to give Tech its second straight Friday shutout. Behind the pitching of Chris Phillips and Matt Harbin, the Cowboys managed just four runs in the final two games. The team ERA fell to 4.07 after the series with Oklahoma State from its previous 4.34.

HAYS WINS 1,250TH CAREER GAME
Texas Tech Head Coach Larry Hays earned his 1, 250th career victory on Tuesday, March 13th against the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds. Coach Hays is currently the fourth winningest active baseball coach in the nation behind Augie Garido (Texas), Chuck Hartman (Virginia Tech) and Gene Stephenson (Wichita State). Hays is the eighth winningest coach in the history of the NCAA.

AGAINST THE TIGERS
Texas Tech and Missouri met for the first time in 1965 with the Tigers taking a doubleheader 6-3 and 26-3. The two teams renewed the series when the Big 12 was formed in 1997. Texas Tech leads the all-time series 9-7 and is 8-4 against the Tigers since the inception of the Big 12. Missouri won the series against Texas Tech last season 2-1 at Dan Law Field.

2000 Season (Lubbock) Missouri won the series 2-1
1999 Season (Columbia) Texas Tech won the series 2-1
1998 Season (Lubbock) Texas Tech won the series 2-1
1997 Season (Columbia) Texas Tech won the series 3-0

THE PHILLIPS WATCH
Texas Tech junior right-handed pitcher Chris Phillips has been turning a few heads across the Big 12 and the nation as he has tallied an impressive 8-1 record. Phillips is the only pitcher in the nation to have eight wins on the season and needs just one more win to tie Kevin Tracey's win total (9-7) for the entire 2000 season. He needs six more wins to tie Shane Wright's win total of 14 set during the 1998 season in which he went 14-1. The 14 wins by Wright is a school and Big 12 Conference record. With a nine inning complete game against Oklahoma State this past weekend, Phillips tossed his third straight complete game.

FOSSUM HAS BIG WEEKEND
Freshman outfielder Brent Fossum had another impressive performance this past weekend for Texas Tech. Fossum made all three starts in left field and had the second best on base percentage (.462) on the team over the weekend. Against the Pokes on Friday, Fossum went 3 for 4 at the plate with an RBI to lead all batters.

TECH DEFENSE PRETTY STOUT
Texas Tech started off the 2001 campaign a little dusty on the defensive end as the squad committed 24 errors in the first 12 games of the season. Since then, Tech has committed 18 errors over a span of 21 games and has had just two multiple error games (New Mexico 2/25 & New Mexico 3/20). As a defensive unit, Texas Tech is tied for first with Kansas in the Big 12 standings with a .968 fielding percentage. Baylor is in second place with a .967 fielding percentage while Texas is third at .965.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
After 34 games of the 2000 season, Texas Tech had an overall record of 17-16 and an identical mark of 6-6 in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders went 16-6 to close out the regular season sending them to the Big 12 Tournament where they posted a record of 2-2 to earn a spot in the NCAA Regionals for the sixth straight season.

HITTING NOTES

Junior third baseman Nick Blankenship has hit safely in 27 of 32 games this season. Junior Gera Alvarez has hit safely in 29 of 33 games this season which is the best percentage on the team.
Austin Cranford continues to have the hot bat in Big 12 play as he leads the team with a .455 average (15 of 33). He currently leads the team with an eight-game hitting streak
Freshman Brent Fossum tallied his second multiple hit game of the year against Oklahoma State on Friday. Fossum went 3 for 4 against the Cowboys with an RBI. His other multiple hit game came against New Mexico on Feb. 25th.
The Texas Tech offense has belted out 12 hit games five times in the last eight games
As a team, Texas Tech currently sits in fourth place in league batting average (.302) behind Nebraska, Baylor and Oklahoma State.

PITCHING NOTES

Junior right-hander Chris Phillips tossed his third straight complete game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Sunday. With the win, Phillips improved his record to 8-1 on the season which is best record in the country for a pitcher at the Division I level.
Junior lefty Matt Harbin had his most impressive start of the season against Oklahoma State on Sunday in the second game of the doubleheader. Harbin went 7.1 innings giving up just five hits and two earned runs and struckout three.
Texas Tech used a season-low four pitchers against Oklahoma State.
Blake McGinley was Tech's only relief pitcher this past weekend against Oklahoma State and picked up his fifth save on Saturday.

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