No. 10 Red Raiders Return Home to Host Wichita State

Friday, March 8

Lubbock, TX

6:30 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

Wichita State

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No. 10 Red Raiders Return Home to Host Wichita State

March 07, 2019 | Baseball

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Texas Tech set to begin three-game series with the Shockers at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

By: Texas Tech Athletics Communications

LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 10 Texas Tech baseball team returns home to host Wichita State for a three-game set Friday-Sunday at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

The Red Raiders (8-3) and Shockers (5-6) kick off the series at 6:30 p.m. Friday on FOX Sports Southwest Plus. The two sides meet again Saturday at 2 p.m. on TexasTech.TV, before rounding out the series at 1 p.m. Sunday on FOX Sports Southwest. Fans can also hear the action on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM, the TuneIn app and the 97.3 app.

Tech concluded a four-game road trip on Wednesday at San Diego State as the Red Raiders swept a two-game set with the Aztecs by scores of 5-1 and 12-9. Tech finished the road trip 2-2, taking a pair of low-scoring losses to Nebraska and No. 9 Mississippi State at the weather-shortened Frisco College Classic at Dr Pepper Ballpark.

The Red Raiders struck out a season-high 14 batters in the win over the Aztecs on Tuesday. All nine players in the lineup reached base safely as Tech put up a three-run seventh that helped them open up what was a 2-1 ballgame.

Wednesday's finale at SDSU provided considerably more theatrics. Tech fell behind 5-0, but climbed out of the hole and scored four runs in the eighth to take an 8-5 lead. SDSU, however, rallied with four runs of their own in the bottom of the eighth, all of which came with two outs. Down to its last out, the Red Raiders strung together a walk, an intentional walk and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases for senior Cameron Warren, who crushed a grand slam that lifted Tech to the 12-9 win.

Junior Brian Klein had the steady hand on offense for the Red Raiders during their road trip, hitting .417 and adding five walks. He reached base safely seven times against the Aztecs, going 3-for-4 with a walk on Tuesday and 1-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored on Wednesday. The second baseman ranks second on the team this season at .395 hitting and leads Tech with 17 hits.

Sophomore Dylan Neuse has also had a memorable start to his Red Raider career. The outfielder hit .385 during the road trip, including .571 in San Diego, and currently leads the team in hitting at .400 for the season. Neuse went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI on Tuesday before filling the stat sheet Wednesday by going 2-for-2 with three walks to reach base all five times. His two hits were a solo home run and a two-run double as he finished with three RBI for the day while adding two stolen bases and four runs scored.

Last weekend, two Red Raiders were recognized on the Frisco Classic All-Tournament Team with sophomore Gabe Holt honored as an outfielder while junior third baseman Josh Jung took honors in the infield. Holt went 3-for-8 over the weekend and was a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen bases while drawing a walk and scoring. Jung had a multi-hit effort against the Huskers, finishing 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

The Red Raiders and Shockers will be facing off for the 31st time in the history of the two programs on Friday and the first time since WSU joined the American Athletic Conference in 2018. This will be the first trip to Lubbock for WSU since 1995 as the Red Raiders visited Wichita in 2017 and came away with a three-game sweep. Tech trails the all-time series 13-17, but has won six of the last eight and holds a 9-6 edge in Lubbock.

Wichita State enters Friday with a 5-6 record on the year after going 35-21-1 last season, including a 9-14 record in their first year with the American Athletic Conference. The Shockers dropped their midweek tilt at Oklahoma State, but enter having won four of their last five games.

Head Coach Tim Tadlock, who is three wins away from 250 in his time at Tech, will remain with the starting rotation of junior left-hander Erikson Lanning on Friday, junior right-hander Caleb Kilian on Saturday and freshman left-hander Mason Montgomery on Sunday. The rotation has been solid over the last two weekends, combining for a 3.19 ERA in the sweep of Kentucky before Lanning and Kilian combined for a 1.10 ERA in the weather-shortened Frisco Classic. Lanning tossed five scoreless innings in Frisco while Kilian gave up only one earned run in 3.2 frames. Montgomery missed his start last week as Sunday's game was cancelled because of weather.

WSU will hand the ball over to a pair of junior right-handers in Preston Snavely on Friday and Tommy Barnhouse on Saturday. Sunday's starter is yet to be determined.

Following this weekend's series, Texas Tech will open Big 12 play with a three-game series at Texas. The Red Raiders and Longhorns will battle at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. All three games from UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin will be shown on Longhorn Network.