Texas Tech Athletics
San Francisco
No. 5 Texas Tech Defeats San Francisco on Opening Day
February 13, 2015 | Baseball
Texas Tech scored its most runs on Opening Day since 2009.
LUBBOCK, Texas - No. 5 Texas Tech opened its season Friday with a 9-7 victory over San Francisco in front of a school-record Opening Day crowd of 4,375 fans at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.
The Red Raiders (1-0) scored six runs in the third and received strong pitching performances from four pitchers while a pair of Tech players hit home runs to start the 2015 season. San Francisco (0-1) had eight players post a base hit in the loss.
Tech freshman left-handed pitcher Jacob Patterson (1-0) pitched three innings in relief without allowing an earned run to pick up the victory during his career debut. Patterson became only the second Tech freshman during the last 28 years to earn a win on Opening Day.
Tech senior right-handed pitcher Dominic Moreno pitched the final 1.2 innings allowing just one run with a strikeout to earn his fourth career save. Moreno has now pitched in three straight Opening Day games for Tech - the first Red Raider to do that since current Miami Marlins reliever A.J. Ramos (2006-08).
San Francisco starter Anthony Shew (0-1) took the loss allowing eight runs (7 ER) on seven hits with three strikeouts and three walks. Red Raider sophomore right-handed pitcher Ryan Moseley pitched four innings allowing three runs (2 ER) on two hits with five strikeouts and a walk during his first Opening Day start.
The Red Raiders fell behind 3-0 in the top of the third but quickly erased the deficit scoring six runs on four hits in the bottom half of the inning. Junior left fielder Tyler Neslony drove in the first three runs for Tech with a bases-clearing double with one out. Junior first baseman Eric Gutierrez followed with an RBI double and then scored on sophomore center fielder Hunter Hargrove's RBI double.
Sophomore right fielder Stephen Smith hit a solo homer in the fifth and junior catcher Tyler Floyd hit a solo shot - his first career home run - in the eighth to give Tech a 9-6 lead.
Senior second baseman Bryant Burleson went 2-for-5 with an RBI, Gutierrez finished 2-for-3 and Floyd went 2-for-3 with two runs.
Texas Tech and San Francisco will continue their opening weekend series on Saturday, Feb. 13 with a doubleheader starting at noon CT. Game two of the doubleheader will begin approximately 45 minutes following the conclusion of the first game.
