Tech Baseball Heads To California For NCAA Tournament
May 22, 2001 | Baseball
May 22, 2001
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THE RED RAIDERS
Texas Tech will be making its seventh straight NCAA Tournament appearance this weekend when they travel to Fullerton, Calif. for the four-team regional with Cal-State Fullerton, Temple and Arizona State. The Red Raiders are 40-18-1 overall after going 1-2 in last week's Big 12 Conference Tournament in Oklahoma City.
Texas Tech is coached by Larry Hays who is 580-303-2 in his 15th season at the helm of the Red Raider program.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION:
For Tickets Please Call the Texas Tech Athletic Ticket Office at (806) 742-TECH or the Cal-State Fullerton Athletic Ticket Office at (714) 278-2783.
Pitching Rotation
Game 1: Brandon Roberson (4.25 ERA, 13-3, 103 K's, 110.0 IP)
Game 2: Chris Phillips (3.54 ERA, 11-5, 86 K's, 132.1 IP)
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.
Oklahoma downed Texas Tech 4-3 to eliminate the Red Raiders in Game 9 of the Phillips 66 Big 12 postseason baseball tournament here Friday. The winners moved on to face tourney-unbeaten Texas A&M at 10 a.m. (CDT) in the first round of Saturday's semifinals.
At least one game follows at 1 p.m. between Nebraska and the winner of Friday's later Iowa State-Oklahoma State tilt at Southwestern Bell Bricktown Ballpark.
OU (25-32) received a complete game pitching performance, the 13th in the 58-game history of the Big 12 tourney, from freshman pitcher Mark Roberts (3-2) for the win. The Owasso, Okla., native made just his third start of the season and struck out four while walking two and pitching his way out of some late-inning jams.
Texas Tech (40-18), in contention for an at-large NCAA bid, managed eight hits in the elimination game and was paced by catcher Anthony Arnerich with a pair of hits and one RBI. Starting pitcher Cory Metzler (5-3) was tagged with the loss after working just the first 3 2/3 innings of the game.
The contest, which tied for the lowest-scoring game in the 2001 tourney with a composite seven runs (along with Nebraska's 5-2 win over Iowa State last Wednesday night), was contingent on a three-run rally by the Sooners in the bottom of the second inning.
2B Matt Fisher hit a solo homer, his fourth of the season, to provide the differential in the game. Roberts' route-going performance was the sixth by a Sooners' pitcher this season and his first of the 2001 campaign.
TECH HEADED TO FULLERTON AS NO. 3 SEED
The Texas Tech baseball team earned its seventh straight NCAA tournament bid and will be the No. 3 seed in the Fullerton Regional in Fullerton, Calif. hosted by Cal-State Fullerton. Texas Tech will face No. 2 seed Arizona State in the first game of the tournament at 5 p.m. on Friday at Goodwin Field. The winner of the game will face the winner of the Cal-State Fullerton - Temple game on Saturday. Cal-State Fullerton is the No. 1 national seed in this year's NCAA Tournament.
The winner of the regional will take on the winner of the Columbus, Ohio regional championship in a Super Regional June 1-3.
The Fullerton regional is arguably one of the toughest regionals in the entire 64-team bracket and will boast some of the top names in collegiate baseball. Cal-State Fullerton, Arizona State and Texas Tech have all made appearances in the major college baseball polls while Cal-State Fullerton has held the top spot on several different occasions this year.
ROBERSON HAS WON 10 STRAIGHT!!!
Texas Tech senior right-hander Brandon Roberson has put together a pretty impressive streak as he has now won his last 10 games to give him a record of 13-3 on the year. Prior to the Kansas State series, Roberson was last on the team with a 5.86 ERA and had a record of 3-3. Since the first game of the Kansas State series, Roberson has not only won 10 straight games but dropped his ERA to 4.25 and has more than doubled his strikeouts (39 previously) to his current 103 which is the most strikeouts by any Tech pitcher.
TECH KEEPS HOME RECORD IN ORDER
Prior to the Iowa State series, Texas Tech was in jeopardy of snapping an eight year streak in which Tech teams have won at least 25 games at Dan Law Field. Despite having arch-rival Texas A&M in final 13-game home stretch, the Red Raiders managed to go 13-0 to give the squad 25 home wins for the ninth consecutive season.
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.
NINE RED RAIDERS NAMED TO ALL-BIG 12 TEAMS
A total of eight Red Raider baseball players were named to the All-Big 12 Conference squads as voted on by the league's head coaches, the Big 12 announced on Monday May 21st.
Texas Tech earned three first-team selections, two second-team and three honorable mention. Leading the way for Tech on the first team was junior third baseman Nick Blankenship. Blankenship, a native of Santa Rosa, Calif., is the second leading hitter on the team and has been the most dominating defensive player in the Tech infield. Blankenship is currently hitting .353 with 88 hits and 10 home runs.
Austin Cranford, a junior designated hitter from Southlake, Texas, was named to the first-team as the utility player. Cranford leads the team with a .400 batting average and hit .449 in the Big 12 regular season. Rounding out the first-team selections for Texas Tech was senior ace Brandon Roberson. Roberson leads not only Texas Tech but the entire Big 12 in wins this season as he has accumulated a 13-3 record and has won 10-straight games. Roberson has pitched 110.0 innings allowing 52 earned runs.
Junior shortstop Gera Alvarez was named to the second-team list at shortstop while junior pitcher Chris Phillips was named to the second-team pitching staff and Kerry Hodges was named to the list in the outfield. Alvarez is the third leading hitter on the team while Phillips tallies the best ERA on the squad at 3.54. Hodges has been one of Tech's hottest hitters over the last month with a .435 average.
Rounding out Tech's selections on the All-Big 12 teams were Jason Rainey (outfield), Tony Arnerich (catcher) and Blake McGinley (reliever). All three players were named to the honorable mention list.
TECH CLAIMS 18+ CONFERENCE WINS AGAIN
Entering the series with Baylor in the regular season finale, Texas Tech and Baylor were the only two teams to have won 18+ conference games every season since the start of the Big 12 in 1997. After taking the series with Baylor 2-1, Texas Tech is now the only team in the conference to have won at least 18 games each Big 12 season. Tech finished the 2001 conference season with a mark of 19-10-1 while Baylor finished 17-10.
TECH AMONG NATION'S BEST IN STOLEN BASES
Texas Tech is unofficially tied for 13th place in the nation for total number of stolen bases. Since the NCAA does not release team stolen base standings until the end of the season, Jeff Muir (Univ. of Tennessee) complied a Top-10 list according to statistics made available to each conference. Miami leads the nation with 191 stolen bags while Texas Tech is tied with Hawaii for 13th place with 112 stolen bases.
A TALE OF TWO TEAMS
When Texas Tech started the 2001 campaign, it looked as though the school's six year streak of NCAA post-season appearances would come to an end. Tech started the year with a 13-10 overall record and dropped its first four conference games of the season good enough for the worst start in over 12 years.
Since the Red Raiders hit rock bottom back in early March, the squad has completely turned the season around. Over the last 37 games, Texas Tech has put up an impressive record of 28-8-1 and is ranked in two of the major college baseball polls this week.
STATE CHAMPIONS???
For the first time since the 1994 season, Texas Tech has won the series with all three rival schools in Texas. Texas Tech beat Texas 2-1 in Austin, swept Texas A&M 3-0 in Lubbock and beat Baylor 2-1 in Waco to give the Red Raiders a clean sweep of its three rival schools in Texas.
ARNERICH ON A HOT STREAK
Junior catcher Tony Arnerich, an honorable mention All-Big 12 selection from Santa Rosa, Calif., is currently on a 12-game hitting streak tying a season-high. Arnerich needs hits in the next two games to set a team record for the longest hitting streak of the year. Arnerich is currently batting .326 and leads the team with 20 doubles.
HODGES LEADING THE CHARGE
The Texas Tech offense has gotten another spark over the last month as the bat of Kerry Hodges has returned. Hodges started off the 2001 campaign as one of the best hitters on the squad as the junior Arizona native rattled off a 13-game hitting streak to start the year. At one point in the year, Hodges had an 18 at-bat hitting slump which he snapped against Texas on March 10th. Since the TCU game on April 24th, Hodges has been the leading hitter on the team with a .435 (20 for 46) batting average over the last nine games.
TECH RANKED IN TWO OF THE MAJOR POLLS
Texas Tech is ranked in two of the major collegiate baseball polls this week for the first time this season. Texas Tech is ranked 22nd by the Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches Poll and 22nd by Collegiate Baseball Magazine.
HAYS DOES IT AGAIN
Head coach Larry Hays has accomplished a lot in his 30-year career, but perhaps the 2001 season is one of his best coaching efforts. The Red Raiders are on the brink of earning their seventh straight NCAA appearance despite starting off the season at 13-10. Hays has put together this team on 8.7 scholarships (normal amount is 11.7) due to NCAA sanctions that were imposed on Texas Tech in 1996.
TECH EARNS SEVENTH-STRAIGHT NCAA BID
Texas Tech will be competing in its seventh-straight NCAA Tournament this weekend in Fullerton, Calif. and its seventh overall. Tech's seven-year NCAA streak is the longest active streak in the Big 12 Conference. Texas Tech was one of five Big 12 schools to earn an NCAA bid (Tech, Nebraska, Baylor, Texas and Oklahoma State).
DAN LAW FIELD UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Construction has now begun at Dan Law Field and is scheduled to be completed by the start of the 2002 season. During this first phase of renovations, the university will construct a new "major-league" style dressing room complete with floor to ceiling oak lockers, a player lounge, training rooms, coach's offices, indoor batting cages and equipment rooms.
The interior of the stadium will be bricked with the traditional "Chicago Cub" style brick and a new outfield fence will be constructed. The exterior of the stadium will also see its first phase of construction when a brick exterior fence is erected surrounding the stadium.
The second phase of construction calls for a brick facade around the exterior of the stadium that will reflect the Spanish architecture of the campus. A new press box and updated luxury suites will cap off the project.
TECH DEFENSE SETS BIG 12 RECORD
Through the course of 30 Big 12 games this season, the Tech defense accounted for a fielding percentage of .981 which is a new Big 12 Conference record. The previous record was .971 set by Oklahoma in 1999 and Texas in 2000. As a team, Texas Tech not only leads the conference defensively in Big 12 games but overall as well with a .970 fielding percentage.
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'
Texas Tech will head to the West Coast for the second time this season after competing in the San Diego Baseball Classic at San Diego State back in February. For seven Red Raiders, the trip to California will be a homecoming as Mike Larsen, Chris Phillips, Nick Blankenship, Tony Arnerich, Gera Alvarez, Brennan Burns and Blake McGinley all hail from the State of California.
NOTING TEXAS TECH
- With 40 wins this season, Texas Tech has now won at least 35 games in a single season for the eighth consecutive year. The 40-win season is the eighth in school history.
- Texas Tech has mercy-ruled four different opponents this season with the last victim being Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on May 1st. The other three mercy rules have come in league play against Kansas State, Iowa State and Texas A&M.
- Texas Tech earned its third series sweep of the season against Kansas in the final home Big 12 series of the season (4/27-4/29).
- Texas Tech has the second best batting average in the Big 12 Conference with a mark of .317.
- The Texas Tech defense ranks 7th in the nation as the squad carries a .970 fielding percentage.
- Texas Tech went 1-2 this past week in the 2001 Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament. Tech defeated Oklahoma 17-5 in the first game but fell to arch rival Texas A&M 8-6 on Thursday and was eliminated from the tournament by Oklahoma 4-3 on Friday.
- Texas Tech will be the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Regionals for the second consecutive year. Last season, Tech was the No. 3 seed in the Houston Regional and went 1-2 falling to Rice both times in the tournament.
HITTING NOTES
- Senior Jason Rainey is currently tied for 17th in the nation for number of triples this season. Rainey's seven triples this year are just two shy of tying the Texas Tech school record of nine that he sat last season.
- Designated hitter Austin Cranford, Tech's leading hitter, is currently tied for fourth in the Big 12 with a batting average of .400. Cranford ranks 43rd nationally in batting average.
- Texas Tech is batting .318 with runners in scoring position and .667 with runners on third with less that two outs.
- Nick Blankenship and Gera Alvarez are 4 and 9 hits away respectively from breaking into the Top 10 for most number of hits in a single season by a Tech player.
- The Tech offense has tallied 18 double-digit hit games over the last 24.
- Tech has seven players with 40+ RBI on the season.