Red Raiders End Regular-Season At Oklahoma
May 19, 2005 | Baseball
May 19, 2005
Texas Tech (33-20; 9-13) vs. Oklahoma (30-22; 11-13)L. Dale Mitchell Park - Norman, Okla.
May 20-22, 2005 - 7 p.m./1 p.m./1 p.m.
Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma - Gameday Central
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RED RAIDERS WRAP UP 2005 REGULAR-SEASON AT OKLAHOMA
The Texas Tech Red Raiders will take a three-game win streak into its most critical series of the year as Tech will square off against the Oklahoma Sooners this weekend in Norman. Tech and OU will get the series underway on Friday night at 7 p.m. at L. Dale Mitchell Park. The series continues with a 1 p.m. first pitch on Saturday and concludes at 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be televised by ESPNU with Dave Barnett and Buck Martinez calling the action.
Texas Tech's post-season fate will be decided this weekend as the Red Raiders will try and maintain its spot as one of the top eight teams in the Big 12 standings. The top eight seeds qualify for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City May 25-28. A strong showing by Tech this weekend in Norman and then again in the Big 12 Tournament could help land the Red Raiders a berth in an NCAA Regional for the 10th time in school history.
The Red Raiders are currently on a three-game win streak after taking the series finale from Nebraska and two midweek games from New Mexico and New Mexico State. Tech finished the year with a 24-7 record against non-conference opponents and went 23-9 at Dan Law Field.
Oklahoma enters the weekend series with some momentum of its own as the Sooners have won four straight and seven of their last nine. The Sooners are coming off an emotional 2-1 series win in the annual Bedlam Series against arch-rival Oklahoma State and two midweek wins over Northern Colorado. Oklahoma has a team batting average of .292 and a staff ERA of 4.53. Third baseman Ryan Rohlinger leads the team with a .358 batting average along with nine home runs and 45 RBI.
Tickets for the three-game series are available and can be purchased by calling the Oklahoma Athletics Ticket Office at (405) 325-2424. All three games will be broadcast live on the Red Raider Baseball Radio Network with live stats available at www.texastech.com.
BLAIR NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior shortstop Cameron Blair has been named the Phillips 66 Big 12 Co-Player of the Week following a stellar weekend series against Nebraska. Blair joined Nebraska first baseman Curtis Ledbetter and pitchers Max Scherzer (Missouri) and Abe Woody (Baylor).
Blair hit .700 in the weekend series against the Huskers as he went 7-for-10 at the plate. Blair also added two more home runs to increase his season total to 17. The weekly award is his second of the year as he picked up the honor back on April 12.
FULLER NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Texas Tech senior center fielder Cody Fuller has been named to the 2005 ESPN The Magazine University Baseball Academic All-District VI team for his contributions in the classroom.
Fuller, a senior from Smithson Valley, was one of three outfielders selected to this year's team and has totaled a 3.48 GPA as a communications/political science major. He just recently picked up the award for Texas Tech Male Student-Athlete-of-the-Year and is now eligible for Academic All-America honors. He will graduate from Texas Tech on Saturday when commencement exercises are held at the United Spirit Arena.
On the playing field, Fuller is the only Red Raider to make all 48 starts this season and has a season batting average of .324 along with eight doubles, two triples and 24 stolen bases.
BIG 12 TOURNAMENT UPDATE
Texas Tech is currently in seventh place in the Big 12 standings and two games behind Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The Red Raiders need to finish in the top eight to secure a spot in the upcoming Big 12 Conference Tournament at Oklahoma City's Bricktown Ballpark May 25-28. Kansas State and Texas A&M are currently in the ninth and 10th spots respectively. The only time Tech has failed to make the Big 12 Tournament was in 2003 when the tourney was last played in Oklahoma City.
ALL-AMERICA CANDIDATE
The decision to return to college for his senior year has turned out to be a good one for shortstop Cameron Blair. Blair is one of the top senior shortstops in the nation this season and will be a candidate for more post-season awards to match those he earned in 2004.
Blair comes into the week with an overall batting average of .377 along with 10 doubles and three triples. His 17 home runs on the season is tied for first in the league. Of Blair's 17 home runs this year, 10 have come in the rugged Big 12 and that is the best mark in the league. He leads the team with 58 RBI and now totals 139 in his career. TAKE A LOOK AT THESE NUMBERS.....Blair is making a strong case for Big 12 Player of the Year honors as he is posting a monster season offensively in conference play.
- second in the league with a .413 batting avg.
- leads league in slugging at .907
- leads league in runs scored (26)
- leads league with 10 home runs
- leads league in RBI with 24
- tied for second with 20 walks
- struckout just seven times
- second in on-base percentage (.550)
RAIDERS ON THE PROWL
Opposing pitchers and catchers--BEWARE--Tech is on the prowl again in 2005. After sporting the quickest team in the Big 12 in 2004, the Red Raiders are looking for a repeat. Texas Tech leads the league with 134 stolen bases and that is 52 more than second place Texas who has 82 on the year.
Tech has three players with 20-plus stolen bags in Cody Fuller (25), Chris Williams (24) and Cameron Blair (21). The Red Raiders have averaged 110 stolen bases over the last four seasons.
TECH vs. OKLAHOMA
Texas Tech and Oklahoma will be meeting for the 41st, 42nd and 43rd times in history as the two teams will play a three-game series at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman. The Red Raiders lead the all-time series 21-18-1 and won last year's three-game set in Lubbock two games to one.
Friday night's series opener will mark Tech's 19th game at L. Dale Mitchell Park and the Raiders will be looking to even the series there as the Sooners own a 10-7-1 advantage. Tech's last appearance in Norman (2003) resulted in a three-game sweep by the Sooners and that ultimately led to the Red Raiders missing out on the Big 12 Tournament for the first time. Tech's last win in Norman was a 9-3 decision back on April 20, 2001.
The recent series between Tech and Oklahoma has been extremely close as the two teams have split the last 10 meetings (5-5). Additionally, Tech and Oklahoma have played six times in the Big 12 Tournament and the squads have split those games 3-3.
Last year's series offered plenty of excitement as Tech won the three-game series 2-1 thanks to a 6-5 win in 10 innings in the Sunday finale. The Sooners erased a 4-1 deficit by scoring four runs over the final two innings to take a 5-4 lead. The Red Raiders came back and tied the game in the ninth and then got an RBI single from Ryan Andrews in the bottom of the 10th to earn the win.
RAIDERS WIN THE BORDER WAR
Texas Tech can lay claim to the New Mexico State Championship after taking six games this season from New Mexico State and New Mexico. The Red Raiders posted perfect 3-0 records against both schools and wrapped up the border competition this week.
Tech took a 14-6 decision from New Mexico on Monday and then traveled to Las Cruces on Tuesday where the Red Raiders came away with a 12-6 win. Tech's win in Las Cruces was its first since 1990 and snapped a four-game losing skid at Presley Askew Stadium.
THOMAS COMES UP BIG THIS WEEK
Red Raider fans certainly hope the week ends as good as it started for junior right fielder Brent Thomas. In the two games earlier this week against New Mexico and New Mexico State, Thomas tallied a .625 average as he was 5-for-8 at the plate with two home runs and five RBI.
Thomas was spectacular on Tuesday night in Las Cruces as he tallied a season-high two home runs and five RBI to help lead Tech to a 12-6 win over the Aggies. Thomas has moved into the starting role in right field and now totals a season average of .343 with four home runs and 16 RBI.
RED RAIDER TIDBITS
- Joe Dillon, a former Texas Tech All-American and team volunteer coach in 2004, was called up on Wednesday morning to the Florida Marlins. Dillon retired from baseball in 2003 due to chronic back problems but made a comeback last spring and has spent most of his time in at AAA Albuquerque. Dillon got a hit in his first major league at-bat on Wednesday afternoon in the second inning against the Dodgers and finished the day 1-for-4. Dillon is one of four former players currently on MLB rosters joining Travis Smith (Marlins), Keith Ginter (Oakland A's) and Josh Bard (Indians).
- The Red Raiders have won six-straight games on two different occasions this year. The longest losing streak was a three-game stretch between March 20 and March 25. Tech's longest losing streak in Big 12 play was a five-game stretch that began on March 20 against Texas A&M.
- Senior shortstop Cameron Blair posted his 49th career multiple-hit game on Monday afternoon against New Mexico. Blair also has 34 career multiple-RBI games in his two year stint as a Red Raider.
- Texas Tech will be riding some momentum this weekend as the Raiders come into the series with a three-game win streak. After dropping the first two games of the Nebraska series, Tech went on to win the series finale against the Huskers and then posted non-conference wins over New Mexico and New Mexico State on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday's game against New Mexico State wrapped up a stretch in which Tech had played five games in five days.
- Texas Tech Head Coach Larry Hays will be coaching in his 2,200th career game on Friday night against the Sooners. Hays is currently the NCAA's third winningest active head coach behind Texas' Augie Garrido and Wichita State's Gene Stephenson. He has a career record of 1,424-772-3.
- Cameron Blair is currently tied for seventh place on the career home run list at Texas Tech with 31. One more home run by Blair will move him into a tie for sixth place with Todd Howey (1983-85).
- Senior center fielder Cody Fuller is five stolen bases away from moving into a second place tie with Jeff Boydston on the career stolen bases list at Tech. Fuller has 81 stolen bags in his four year career as a Red Raider (20.2 per-season average).
- Senior right-hander Tanner McElroy made his first career Big 12 start against Nebraska in the series finale on Sunday. McElroy allowed two unearned runs on five hits over seven innings in what turned out to be a no-decision due to a four-run Nebraska rally in the eighth.
- Despite dropping the three-game series to Nebraska, Texas Tech improved to No. 44 in the unofficial RPI rankings at boydsworld.com. Tech is one of seven Big 12 teams that rank in the Top 50.
- All three games of the Oklahoma series will be televised by ESPNU and it will mark Tech's first appearance on the new network that debuted in early March.