No. 16 Tech Baseball Returns Home to Host No. 18 Baylor

LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 16 Texas Tech baseball opens a 10-game home stand this weekend as it welcomes No. 18 Baylor to Rip Griffin Park for a pivotal three-game series Thursday-Saturday presented by Texas Farm Bureau Insurance.

Thursday's opener between the Red Raiders (23-12, 6-6) and Bears (25-10, 8-3) is set for 6:30 p.m. The series continues Friday with another 6:30 p.m., before concluding Saturday at 2 p.m. Friday will be broadcast on FS1 while Thursday and Saturday will be featured on FOX Sports Southwest. As always, fans can hear the action on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM, the TuneIn App, the 97.3 app and on TexasTech.TV.

Thursday will be '80's Music Night' at the park. On Friday, Tariq Owens and Norense Odiase of the Texas Tech men's basketball team will be on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. Texas Tech and UMC Health Systems have partnered to hold a postgame Easter egg hunt on the field following Saturday's game. Fans are reminded that Texas Tech's clear bag policy remains in effect for all Texas Tech home athletic events.

With 15 of its last 18 games at home, Texas Tech enters the weekend as the only Big 12 school to have played nine of its first 12 games on the road. The Red Raiders have navigated through the road stretch to sit in a tie for fourth in the league standings, 2.5 games back of first-place Baylor.

The Bears, meanwhile, have benefited from hosting three of their first four conference series in Waco. Baylor is 6-2 at home during league play, including series wins over West Virginia and Oklahoma and a split against Texas in a shortened series. In their lone road series, the Bears won 2-of-3 at Kansas.

Thursday will be the 169^th meeting between the two programs with Tech holding an 87-81 advantage all-time. The series leans heavily in Tech's favor in games played in Lubbock as the Red Raiders are 55-26 against the Bears in the Hub City. Tech has won all three series played in Lubbock under head coach Tim Tadlock, going 7-2 since 2013.

The series against Baylor is the second-most played for the Red Raider Baseball program, trailing just three games behind Tech and TCU. This will be the first time Tech has played a Baylor squad ranked in the top 25 since 2011 when Tech won 2-of-3 games in Waco. It also marks the first matchup with both teams ranked in the top 25 since 2003 in Waco when Tech was No. 20 and Baylor was No. 8.

Last season, the Red Raiders traveled to Waco for the final three games of an eight-game road trip that featured five games at No. 5 Kentucky and at No. 3 Louisville prior to the journey to Baylor. Tech ended up dropping 2-of-3 games to the Bears, winning the finale 11-4. The Sunday win launched an impressive stretch for Tech as it won 10 of its next 11 games.

The Red Raiders will play in front of the home crowd on Thursday, where they're 15-3 on the year, after playing 10 of its last 13 away from home. Tech is 5-5 in the month of April, coming off a tough four-game trip to West Virginia and Duke. The Red Raiders went 1-2 in Morgantown with a victory on Sunday behind Caleb Kilian's complete-game, two-hit shutout. Tech closed the road trip with a 13-6 loss at Duke on Tuesday.

Baylor has won three consecutive games following a 9-6 win over Sam Houston State in the midweek and a series win over Oklahoma. The Bears fell 7-5 in the series opener before rattling off a 7-3 win Saturday and a 3-2 win in 12 innings in the rubber match.

With a shortened week to prepare, Texas Tech will go with the same rotation of starters as last week with junior left-hander Erikson Lanning on the hill Thursday night, freshman right-hander Micah Dallas on Friday and junior righty Caleb Kilian on Saturday.

Baylor will counter with redshirt sophomore right-hander Jimmy Winston (3-1, 1.98 ERA) on Thursday and redshirt junior left-hander Paul Dickens (4-1, 3.56 ERA) on Friday, while Sunday is TBD.

Following the weekend series, Texas Tech will continue its home stand with a pair of midweek matchups against New Mexico. The Red Raiders and Lobos will square off Tuesday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest Plus and again Wednesday at 2 p.m. on TexasTech.TV.

No. 16 Tech Baseball Returns Home to Host No. 18 Baylor

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Players Mentioned

Micah Dallas

Caleb Kilian

Erikson Lanning