Tech Baseball opens 2025 at No. 6 UNC

Friday, February 14

Chapel Hill, N.C

12 p.m. (ET)/11 a.m. (CT)

Texas Tech Athletics

No. 6 North Carolina

February 12, 2025 | Baseball

Game Notes (PDF) Live Stats (Fri)Live Stats (Sat)Live Stats (Sun) Watch (Fri) Watch (Sat) Watch (Sun)

The Red Raiders and Tar Heels open a three-game set Friday

By: Andrew Stern

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Texas Tech Baseball begins its season on the road this weekend, as the Red Raiders make the trek to North Carolina for a three-game series against No. 6 UNC.

The weekend begins on Friday afternoon with a doubleheader beginning at Noon (ET)/ 11 a.m. (CT). Game two of the weekend will begin around one hour following the conclusion of Game One. The third and final game of the series is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:

GAME ONE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (0-0) vs. No. 6 North Carolina (0-0)
DATE: Friday, Feb. 14, 2025
TIME: 4 p.m. (ET)/3 p.m. (CT)
LOCATION: Chapel Hill, N.C.
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Jack Cebert (6-5, 5.20 ERA) vs. Jason DeCaro (6-1, 3.81 ERA)

GAME TWO:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (0-0) vs. No. 6 North Carolina (0-0)
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025
TIME: 2 p.m. (ET)/1 p.m. (CT)
LOCATION: Chapel Hill, N.C.
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Mac Heuer (4-5, 5.94 ERA) vs. RHP Aidan Haugh (4-3, 4.83 ERA)

GAME THREE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (0-0) vs. No. 6 North Carolina (0-0)
DATE: Sunday, Feb. 16, 2025
TIME: 1 p.m. (ET)/Noon (CT)
LOCATION: Chapel Hill, N.C.
PITCHING MATCHUP: TBA vs. TBA

1-2-3 Headlines:
* The new look 2025 Red Raiders open the 2025 season this weekend at defending ACC Coastal division winner, UNC. The Tar Heels went 48-17 a season ago and advanced to the College World Series. The Red Raiders and Tar Heels are meeting for the first time since the Lubbock 2021 Regional. This weekends series against UNC will also be a milestone for Texas Tech Baseball as it marks the first time that the Red Raiders will compete wearing new apparel provider, adidas. The Red Raiders and the apparel provider came to terms on a 10-year agreement that will run through the 2034 season.

* The Red Raiders bring a newly tooled roster in 2025 featuring 25 newcomers including former national JUCO HR leader Robin Villeneuve and former Stetson All-SUN Freshman Team selection Logan Hughes. In total, the Red Raiders welcomed seven D-I transfers to campus ahead of the start of the season.

* This weekend's series against the Tar Heels for the Red Raiders will kick off an important stretch of eight straight games against NCAA Tournament foes from a season ago and 11 of 14 games. The stretch begins this weekend in Chapel Hill before continuing when the Red Raiders welcome in UC Irvine for the lone home weekend of non-con play. That streak also will include a pair of weekend dates against both Texas and Illinois.
NOTES:

TOBBACO ROAD FOR THE FIRST TIME

The Red Raiders and UNC have met three previous times, but never inside the State of North Carolina, meaning this weekends series between the Tar Heels and Red Raiders will be the first all-time matchup between Tech and UNC in Chapel Hill. The Red Raiders and Tar Heels have however met three previous times with the most recent matchup coming back in 2021 in the Lubbock Regional.

BEEN A MINUTE

Despite consistently playing a deep and strong non-conference schedule the Red Raiders have not faced off with a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since the 2022 Statesboro Regional when Tech faced Notre Dame twice. The Red Raiders last regular season matchup against a foe from the ACC was way back in the COVID-19 shortened season (2020) when Tech went to No. 9 Florida State. Tech will play an ACC foe in a weekend series for the first time in program history.

START OF A NCAA STRETCH

This weekends series in Chapel Hill will begin a stretch of eight straight games against NCAA Tournament foes from a season ago and a span of 11 games against NCAA Tournament team from 2024 in the season's first 14 games. Following the Red Raiders weekend series with No. 6 UNC, the Red Raiders will return home to Rip Griffin Park for a weekend series with UC Irvine before heading to Vegas to face Illinois (Feb. 28), No. 19 Texas (Mar. 1) and Washington. UNC, UCI, Illinois and Texas all made the field of 64 a year ago. The Red Raiders stretch of 11/14 games against NCAA foes concludes with a weekend series at GCU. In the end, Tech will play 24 games against NCAA teams from a season ago beginning once again with the sixth-ranked Tar Heels.

MORE P-4

Head Coach Tim Tadlock hasn't been shy about his intentions with his 2025 schedule, as Tadlock will look to lead his alma matter back to the NCAA Tournament after missing the field of 64 last season. Also seeking to host a regional for the first time since the 2021 season, Tadlock went out and built an extremely difficult schedule that includes 37 total games against Power Conference foes and seven non-conference games against P4 teams. The first three of the 37 games against P4 foes comes this weekend at UNC.

ROAD RED RAIDERS

The Red Raiders will become accustom to the road in 2025 as Tech will play just 26 of 53 games at home this season. Starting with the weekend set at No. 6 UNC, the Red Raiders will play 12 of their first 17 games away from the friendly confines of Rip Griffin Park at Dan Law Field and will play just 10 of their first 26 games at home. In the end, Texas Tech's 27 road games will bring the squad to seven different states: (Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and West Virginia). The Red Raiders in 2025 will play just 31 of 53 games inside the State of Texas. The Red Raiders 26 home games are the fewest in a season since 2022 when Tech also played just 26 games at Rip Griffin Park. The fewest home games the Red Raiders have played in a season was 2009 when Tech played just 22 total home games.

ROAD TO OPEN

The Red Raiders are opening a season on the road for the first time since 2017 when the Red Raiders went to Starkville and faced Western Illinois and Mississippi State to open the season. The three game true road weekend series is the first of its kind since 1996 when Tech opened the season at No. 29 San Diego State. This years series at UNC marks just the second time since 2020 that Tech has not opened the season at Globe Life Field in Arlington. Tech played in the College Baseball Showdown in 2021, 2022 and 2024. UNC is the highest-ranked opponent Tech has faced since last April (Apr. 16-17) when the Red Raiders faced No. 2 Arkansas in a midweek series.

TESTED RIGHT AWAY

As previously stated, the Red Raiders will best tested right away, as they will play three games to open a season against ranked foes for the first time 2021 when Tech faced No. 8 Arkansas, No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 7 Mississippi State in Globe Life Field at the College Baseball Showdown. The Red Raiders three game weekend series against No. 6 UNC marks the first time Tech will open the season with the same top-10 team since 2014 when the Red Raiders opened with No. 3 Indiana at Rip Griffin Park. After dropping opening day by a slim 1-0 margin, the Red Raiders came back to win the final three games against IU (10-5, 6-2 and 7-0). The 2014 season of course kicked off a stretch of four appearances in the College World Series in eight seasons (2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019).

RANKED ROAD FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 30

And while this weekends series at UNC marks the first time in 29 years the Red Raiders will open the season with a true road series, it'll also mark the first time since 1995 that the Red Raiders will begin the season on the road against a top-25 program. The Red Raiders opened that year at No. 13 Arizona State.

No. 6 UNC will be the highest ranked opponent the Red Raiders have faced to start a season since 1989 when Tech also traveled to Tempe to face then ranked No. 10 ASU. Checking in as the No. 6 team in the country (according to D1 Baseball) the Tar Heels will officially be the highest ranked weekend series to open a season in program history.

TOP FIVE AGAIN

• For the 11th-straight season, Texas Tech was picked to finish inside the top five of the Big 12 Preseason Poll. The last time Tech did not finish inside the top-five of the Big 12 Preseason Poll was 2014 when the Red Raiders were picked eighth in the preseason poll in Tadlock's second season as head coach. Despite the eighth-place prediction in 2014, the Red Raiders finished fourth in the regular seasons standing winning 45 games en route to the programs first-ever appearance in Omaha. That Omaha appearance jump started a streak of four trips in six seasons including back-to-back Omaha appearances in 2018 and 2019.

HEY NICE TO MEET YOU

• Head coach Tim Tadlock and his staff were busy this summer, as the Red Raiders welcomed seven D1 transfers Logan Bevis (USF), Jack Cebert (USF), Zach Crotchfelt (Auburn), Logan Hughes (Stetson), Lukas Pirko (Cal Baptist), Peyton Shulze (Cal) and Robin Villeneuve (Teneessee) for the 2025 season. In addition to the seven D1 transfers, Tech also welcomed nine Junior College transfers in Dominic Archila (Panola College), Daniel Bass (Midland College), Dylan Blakey (Saddleback College), Tyler Boudreau (Midland College), JT Drake (Pima CC), Zach Fetchel (Galveston College), Jonny Lowe (Tyler JC/Cisco College), Antonelli Savaterre (Odessa College) and Kyeler Thompson (Galveston College). The seven D1 transfers and nine JUCO transfers combine with nine freshman (Logan Addison, Jackson Burns, Jorden Espinoza, Kendyl Johnson, Ryan Jones, Will Jordan, Connor Mohan, Coleman Ryan and Jace Souza. In total the Red Raiders have 25 newcomers in 2025 out of 40 total players.

WE COME FROM ALL OVER

• Despite a naturally large contingent of players from the State of Texas (25), the Red Raiders do boast an extremely diverse roster, as Tech's final 40 man roster includes players from nine different states and Canada. In addition to the 25 players from inside the State of Texas, the Red Raider roster includes four players from California (Blakey, Espinoza, Pirko and Shulze), three players from Florida (Bevis, Cebert and Hughes), two Canadians (Boudreau and Villenueve) as well as players from Georgia (Hueuer), Hawai'i (Souza), Louisiana (Archila), New Jersey (Crotchfelt), New Mexico (Drake) and Washington (Trombello).

FIVE OF THE NATIONS BEST
•In their annual series where they break down the top players by position, D1 Baseball selected five different Red Raiders to their positional list.

• The first Red Raider to earn an acknowledgment from the publication was Cal transfer Peyton Shulze who was named the No. 27 first baseman in college game. A native of Poway (Calif), Shulze is a veteran of over 150 games played (152 Games) the infielder has hit 42 doubles in three seasons and 19 total home runs. A career .283 hitter Shulze also has the ability to play the other corner spot on the infield (3B) as well as the corner outfield spots.

•The second Red Raider to earn an honor from D1 Baseball was Damian Bravo who after playing primarily in the outfield last season has split tim between the outfield and second base. The 2024 Big 12 batting champion, Bravo became the first Red Raider since Josh Jung (2018) to win the Big 12 batting title when he hit .378 a year ago with 68 total hits and 21 doubles. Bravo also added four home runs and 44 RBIs.

•The Red Raiders third honoree, Pompey, was tabbed as the No. 25 third baseman after hitting .279 with 10 home runs and 49 RBIs en route to earning a pair of Freshman All-American honors. Pompey also added 11 doubles, and scored 41 runs. The speedy infielder also swiped 12 bases in 14 attempts. After starting the season at shortstop a season ago and moving to second base midway through the season, Pompey has adopted his new home for the 2025 season at third base.

•A key returner for the Red Raiders in 2025, RHP Mac Heuer looks to build upon a strong Freshman campaign that saw the former Guardians draftee (16th Rd/No. 488) pitch to a 4-5 total record with a 5.94 ERA. Heuer struck out 46 batters in 47 total innings thrown, before suffering what ended up being a season-ending injury in his final start of 2024 against Oklahoma (May 5).

•The Red Raiders final selection to the D1 Baseball top lists, and one of three transfers from the State of Florida the Red Raiders added this summer, RHP Logan Bevis was named the No. 39 reliever in college baseball after a strong Freshman campaign at USF. Joining his former teammate (Jack Cebert), the 6-6 Bevis arrives in Lubbock after pitching to a 1-1 record and a 4.94 ERA for the Bulls. Bevis, who did not allow a run in seven of his 14 total appearances also pitched to a 2.89 ERA in his final six appearances of the year where he struck out 10 and allowed just three total runs in 9.1 innings pitched.

NCAA EXPERIENCE UP AND DOWN THE SCHEDULE

The Red Raiders have clearly beefed up their schedule in 2025 with the idea of playing home baseball at 'The Rip' in June. In total of the 23 opponents on Tech's schedule, 10 total teams made the NCAA Tournament a season ago. The Red Raiders 12 non-conference foes feature six NCAA participants from last season including CWS participant UNC. The Red Raiders open the season with their first eight games against NCAA Tournament teams from 2024 and will play 11 of their first 14 games against those squads. In total, 24 of 53 games are against teams who played in the NCAA Tournament a season ago.

JUCO BANDITS
With the continued evolution of the NCAA Transfer Portal, the Red Raiders still are holding strong to their history of recruiting the JUCO scene for the best possible talent they can find with 2025 continuing to advance that notion. Of the 40 total players that comprise the Red Raiders official roster 12 different players spent time through out their career at the JUCO level. That list includes projected starters Kyeler Thompson (OF/CF), Robin Villeneuve (1B) and second baseman Antonelli Savaterre who spent last season at Galveston College and Odessa College a season ago while Villeneuve led all of JUCO in HRs (28) in 2023 before transferring to Tennessee for the 2024 season. Also returning to the Red Raiders roster in 2025 are catcher Hudson Parker (Midland College) as well as LHP Carson Baugh (Seminole State). Other "JUCO Bandits" on the 2024 Red Raider roster includes RHPs Tyler Boudreau (Midland College), JT Drake (Pima CC), Johnny Lowe (Cisco/Tyler JC), Zachary Fetchel (Galveston College) and Daniel Bass (Midland College). The Red Raiders also added LHP Dylan Blakey who spent two seasons at Saddleback College and catcher Dominic Archila that spent two seasons at Panola College.

SEVEN IN THE FIRST MONTH

• Though February is the shortest month in the calendar, it usually features a quick flurry of games, however this season the Red Raiders will play just seven total games in the first calendar month of the season starting with the opening series of the season against No. 6 UNC. Following the weekend with the Tar Heels, Tech will return home to the friendly confines of Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park for a weekend series against UC Irvine before closing the month with a Friday night date against Illinois (Feb. 28) in Vegas. That game against the Illinois will kick off the Red Raiders stay at the 2025 College Baseball Classic. In total, the Red Raiders will play just the seven weekend game before finally hosting a midweek contest against UC San Diego the first week (Mar. 4-5) of March. For comparison, the Red Raiders played eight games in 2024 in February and nine games in the month of February in 2023.

A STABLE OF ARMS
Pitching Coach Matt Gardner and Head Coach Tim Tadlock will have a bevy of pitching options to turn to this season both as starting pitchers and a relievers out of the Red Raider bullpen. In total 23 of the Red Raiders 40 players are pitchers with 18 of those pitchers throwing from the right-hand side and five of them throwing from the left-hand side. Of the pitching options just eight were on the Red Raider roster a season ago: LHP Carson Baugh, LHP Zach Erdman, RHP Mac Heuer, RHP Parker Hutyra, RHP Trendan Parish, RHP Zane Petty, RHP Jacob Rogers and RHP Brady Trombello. Of the newcomer pitchers, four have arrived at Texas Tech this season from the high school ranks (Addison,
Espinoza, Mohan and Jordan) while another four (Bevis, Cebert, Crotchfelt and Pirko) have come from the transfer portal. The group of transfer arms includes 2024 Freshman All-American Lukas Pirko (Cal Baptist) as well as USF transfers Jack Cebert and Logan Bevis. The fourth and final D-I pitcher transfer is former Auburn LHP Zach Crotchfelt. In addition to the D-I and high school additions, the Red Raiders also hit the JUCO ranks for pitching depth as they added six players from the JUCO ranks including hard throwing righties Daniel Bass (Midland College), JT Drake (Pima College) and Zach Fetchel (Gavleston College) as well as LHP Dylan Blakey (Saddleback College).

In total the Red Raiders quartet of D-I pitching transfers have combined to make 93 career appearances and 45 total starts with 279.1 innings pitched. The large majority of those appearances and innings have come from Saturday's projected starting pitcher, Jack Cebert, who throw 151.1 career innings over his 46 total appearances and 26 starts. Crotchfelt is the next most experienced pitcher amongst the transfer arms having pitched in 49 career innings with 24 total appearances and six starts. Pirko combined to make 13 appearances and 12 starts last season at CBU pitching 64 total innings, while Bevis throw 15 innings across his 10 appearances and one start.

NEW YEAR NEW TP

• On what turns out to be a roster comprised of mostly newcomers and just six true seniors, RHP Trendan Parish looks poised for another big season with the Scarlett and Black in 2025. Parish who has made 50 career appearances and 11 starts in his three previous seasons at Tech. After an up-and-down and injury riddled first three seasons, Parish attacked the offseason and decided to transform his body and his diet heading into his senior season. Entering last season at 180 pounds, Parish enters the season at 205 pounds after switching to a carnivore diet.

A veteran of 112.1 career innings in his career and a lifetime 7-6 record with nine career saves. Parish has struck out 107 batters in those 112.1 innings including 24 in 27 innings a season ago. In 2024, Parish co-lead the Red Raiders in ERA (3.33) and held opposing batters to a .245 batting average against.

THREE STRIPE LIFE

This weekends series against UNC will also be a milestone for Texas Tech Baseball as it marks the first time that the Red Raiders will compete wearing new apparel provider, adidas. The Red Raiders and the apparel provider came to terms on a 10-year agreement that will run through the 2034 season. As part of the new deal with adidas, former Red Raider Baseball player and star NFL QB Patrick Mahomes unveiled a unique one-of-its-kind NIL deal and the formation of "Team Mahomes" aimed at increasing the visibility for Red Raider student athletes. The inaugural class includes Texas Tech INF TJ Pompey as well as athletes from Texas Tech Football, Lady Raider Basketball, Texas Tech Soccer, Texas Tech Softball and Texas Tech Golf.

NEW YEAR NEW POSITION FOR POMPEY

After splitting time between shortstop and second base a season ago, TJ Pompey is looking to make the switch to third base ahead of the 2025 season. Pompey, who was named a Preseason All-American, hit .279 in his freshman campaign and hit 10 home runs and drove in 49 runs. Pompey scored 41 total runs and also stole 12 of 14 bases he attempted. Pompey finished fourth on the Red Raider squad in homers, third in RBIs and sixth in runs scored.

ANT PUTS IT IN PLAY

A summer addition to the 2025 Red Raider roster, Texas Tech infielder Antonelli Savaterre heads to Lubbock with the reputation for putting the ball in play. Throughout his career with Odessa College, Savaterre hit .385 in 2024 for the Wranglers as the Rowlett native struck out just eight times in 195 official at-bats. Savaterre walked 28 times and drove in 40 runs in his 52 total games played. When you include Savaterre's Freshman season where he struck out 14 times, Savaterre whiffed just 22 times in 382 at-bats or just six percent of the time. In his two seasons at Odessa, Savattere combined to score 109 runs in just 103 games played and stole 33 total bases.

WE CAN COVER SOME GROUND

Tim Tadlock has not been shy about the both the defensive speed and potential of his outfield this season, as the longtime skipper of the Red Raiders feels he may have three true center fielders on his roster in 2025. That group, which is led by sophomore JUCO (Galveston College) OF Kyeler Thompson also includes a pair of young guns in Kendyl Johnson and Jace Souza. A native of Little Elm, Johnson profiles as a 65 or 70 grade runner, while Souza entered college as a legit MLB Draft candidate and a top-200 prospect out of high school.

ANT + KYE

When Tadlock puts pen to paper on his first lineup of the season there is a solid chance that included in that lineup will be Savaterre in the leadoff spot and Thompson in the No. 2 spot in the lineup. A pair of Texans and products of Texas-based JUCOs, Thompson stole an impressive 46 bases for Galveston a season ago and was caught stealing just three times. As previously stated, Savaterre stole 17 bags last season after adding 16 bags in 2023. Like Savaterre, Thompson has elite plate discipline as the outfielder walked 45 times in 58 games and struck out just 38 times in 263 plate appearances and 202 official at-bats. When you combined Thompson and Savaterre's exploits the duo combined to strike out just 60 times in 584 ABs.

OH CANADA

Boasting a roster with players from all over the United States, the 2025 Red Raider roster also stretches internationally,as Tech will feature not one but two Canadians for the first time under head coach Tim Tadlock in infielder/outfielder Robin Villeneuve (Gatineau, Quebec) and right-hander Tyler Boudreau (Sylvan Lake, Alberta). Villeneuve hails from just outside of Ottawa and comes from Tennessee by way of Weatherford College while Bourdreau arrives in Lubbock after a strong two-year career at Midland College.

The 2023 JUCO home run champion while at Weatherford, Villeneuve chose the Vols over Texas Tech the first time before bouncing back and signing with Tech the second time. Villeneuve hit .401 with 28 home runs and drove in 102 runs during his final season with Weatherford leading the Yotes to a third place finish at the NJCAA World Series. Villeneuve was teammates with Benjamin Tadlock, the son of head coach Tim Tadlock.

The Red Raiders other Canadian, Bourdreau, also had decorated JUCO career, as the righty went 23-4 with 13 career complete games at Midland College. After appearing in just four games and redshirting as a freshman, Boudreau burst on the scene in 2022-23, going 12-2 with six complete games. After a strong 2023 season, Bourdreau took his game the next level in 2024, whiffing 128 batters in 85 innings. Boudreau finished the season 11-2 with seven complete games. Boudreau helped lead Midland to a 44-16 record and to within one game of the JUCO World Series in Grand Junction.

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders return home to Lubbock for the home-opening series next weekend against UC Irvine. The three-game series begins on Friday (Feb. 21) with the home opener scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.