No. 10 Tech Treks to Oklahoma for Key Road Series

NORMAN, Okla. – No. 10 Texas Tech baseball journeys to Norman, Okla., for its final road trip of the regular season where it will take on Oklahoma in a three-game set at L. Dale Mitchell Park.

The Red Raiders (30-14, 11-7) and Sooners (30-15, 8-7) are slated for a 6:30 p.m. start Friday on FOX College Sports and a 2 p.m. first pitch Saturday on FOX Sports Oklahoma. Sunday's finale will air on ESPNU at 1 p.m. All three contests can be heard on the Texas Tech Sports Network on 97.3 FM, the 97.3 app, the TuneIn app and at TexasTech.com.

The two clubs meet for the 88th time on Friday with Tech trailing the all-time series, 38-48-1. Under head coach Tim Tadlock, Tech holds an 11-10 edge in the series, including wins in six of the last 10 matchups.

It will be the only Big 12 series this weekend featuring two teams who enter with winning conference records. Tech is currently in second in the league standings, 1.5 games back of No. 15 Baylor. Oklahoma, meanwhile, sits in fifth with three conference matchups remaining. The Red Raiders are on the hunt for their third Big 12 regular season title in four seasons.

The Red Raiders head to Norman having won five of its last six conference games, including a three-game sweep of No. 16 Oklahoma State last weekend. Tech outscored the Cowboys, 29-8, for the series. The week prior, Tech took the final two games against No. 18 Baylor to secure the series win. Both OSU and BU were on top of the Big 12 standings heading to Lubbock before series losses.

Tech most recently completed a midweek series against UTRGV. The Vaqueros took advantage of a season-high four Red Raider errors to get the 6-3 win on Tuesday. Wednesday's game played eerily similar as Tech had four errors in the second inning to allow the Vaqueros to go up 9-0. Tech, however, stormed back with the games next 19 runs behind 20 hits to split the series.

The Sooners have won five of their last six, including a series victory at Kansas State last weekend. Sophomore infielder Tyler Hardman is the only Sooner hitting over .300 on the year (.309). Sophomore infielder Tanner Tredaway leads OU during Big 12 play in hitting at .323 while freshman utility player Diego Muniz hits .313 with 10 RBI.

Last season, Tech continued its dominance of the Sooners in Lubbock, taking 2-of-3 with wins on Friday and Saturday. In the opener, Tech forced extra innings with a run in the ninth, and then walked off the Sooners with two runs in the 10th, including a walk-off balk to win the game. Caleb Kilian got the win Saturday as Tech jumped out to a 9-3 lead through four. The finale was a 3-1 game through six before the Sooners turned it on late to take the 12-5 win.

Unanimous Preseason First Team All-American Josh Jung is the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week. The junior, who recently moved from third base to shortstop, led the league in batting, slugging and on-base percentage last week, hitting .583 with two home runs, two doubles, eight RBI and five runs. He homered in the first two games of the OSU series, coming a triple shy of the cycle Saturday. He has homered in three of the last five games after homering again Wednesday.

Tadlock will keep the same rotation for the second straight week with three right-handers. Freshman Micah Dallas will get the nod on Friday, junior Caleb Kilian on Saturday and sophomore Bryce Bonnin on Sunday.

Oklahoma will trot out junior right-hander Nathan Wiles (7-2, 3.71 ERA), sophomore lefty Levi Prater (6-4, 2.54 ERA) and freshman right-hander Ben Abram (6-1, 3.21 ERA).

Tech is back in the Top 10 of at least one of the six major polls for the seventh week this season. The Red Raiders are the highest ranked team in the conference and have now been ranked in the Top 10 of at least one poll for a combined 37 weeks since 2017.

Following the weekend series, Tech returns home for the final five games of the regular season, starting with a midweek doubleheader against FIU on Tuesday at Rip Griffin Park. The action begins at 2 p.m. and both games will stream on TexasTech.TV.

No. 10 Tech Treks to Oklahoma for Key Road Series

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Players Mentioned

Bryce Bonnin

Micah Dallas

Josh Jung

Caleb Kilian