Ninth-seed Tech opens Big 12 Championship Wed vs. Cincinnati

ARLINGTON, Texas – Texas Tech Baseball opens the 2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. with a nationally-televised (ESPNU) contest against Cincinnati at Globe Life Field.

Facing the Bearcats for the second-straight season in Arlington, the Red Raiders will look to advance to the events quarterfinals Thursday afternoon where a 12:30 p.m. date with top-seeded West Virginia would await.

For the first time in 2025, the Big 12 Tournament has taken a 12-team, single elimination format.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (19-32) vs. Cincinnati (31-23)
DATE: Wednesday, May 21, 2025
TIME: 12:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Globe Life Field (Arlington, Texas)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Mac Heuer (2-3, 6.18 ERA) vs. RHP Nathan Taylor (5-2, 3.65 ERA)

HEADLINES IN 1-2-3:
* Texas Tech kicks-off its stay at the 2025 Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday afternoon with a 12:30 p.m. contest against Cincinnati. With the a victory, the Red Raiders would even the season series with the Bearcats at 2-2, would defeat UC in the Big 12 Tournament at Globe Life Field for the second-straight season and would advance to Thursday's Quarterfinal matchup against No. 1 West Virginia.

* The Red Raiders earned the No. 9 seed in this years Big 12 Conference Tournament after nailing down the regular season finale against BYU in Provo last Saturday. By virtue of the Saturday win in Provo and Baylor's road loss at UCF, the Red Raiders leap-frogged the Bears into the ninth-seed. Cincinnati earned the eight-seed after securing a home weekend series victory over Kansas State despite losing on Saturday afternoon.

* The Red Raiders and Bearcats met once previously this season back in Lubbock, Apr. 4-6, as UC took a closely-contest extra-innings contest (12 innings) against the Red Raiders on Friday before weather necessitated the Red Raiders and Bearcats move Game Two of the weekend series to Sunday. After falling in the second game of the series and the front-half of the doubleheader to UC, the Red Raiders salvaged the weekend in Game Three using homers from Damian Bravo, Logan Hughes and Davis Rivers to erase an 8-7 deficit in the eighth. In that game, Tech scored five times in the eighth.

MATCHUP NOTES:

ALL BIG-12

Highlighted by the Big 12 home run leader in Logan Hughes, four Texas Tech Baseball players were named to the Big 12 All-Conference team the league announced Tuesday afternoon. The Red Raiders placed OFs Damian Bravo and Logan Hughes on the First Team and seniors Robin Villeneuve and Jack Cebert were named Second Team All-Big 12 selections. Tech's multiple First Team All-Big 12 selections marks the fourth time in the last five seasons that Tech has placed two or more players on the leagues' first team and the 10th time in the last 11 seasons (does not include the 2020 season that was canceled due to COVID) that two or more Red Raiders have been named to the Big 12 First Team. With the four selections, the Red Raiders have now had at least one player selected to either of the two All-Big 12 teams every season since 2003.

HUGHES MADE AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT

The 2025 Big 12 leader in total home runs (19), Logan Hughes earned the First Team All-Big 12 selection after a strong sophomore season that saw the outfielder hit .333 with the 19 home runs and 58 RBIs. Hughes enters the Big 12 Tournament on a 38-game on-base streak. Hughes added 13 doubles and four triples finishing with a team-high 36 extra-base hits. Saving his best work for Big 12 contests, 11 of Hughes' 19 bombs came in league play as the DeLand native finished first in the league in conference-only games in total extra-base hits (23), total bases (95), slugging percentage (.760) and home runs (11). Hughes enters the Big 12 Tournament currently seventh all-time in single season home runs and needs just one home run to tie Josh Brady and Dion Ruecker for fifth-place on the all-time home run list at Texas Tech (20). The outfielder was also second in the league in OPS (1.196) in Big 12 contests. Hughes' 47 hits in Big 12 games were the third-most in the league and his 30 RBIs in the 30 league games ranked him 10th. Hughes was one of three players to score 30 runs, drive in 30 runs and have 40 hits in league contest this season and the only player in the league to record 40+ conference hits, 30+ runs scored, 30+ RBIs and 10+ homers.

BRAVO!

The 2024 Big 12 batting champion, Damian Bravo also shined in 2025 for the Red Raiders as he finished the regular season hitting .336 with a career-high 13 home runs and 51 RBIs. Like his corner outfield mate (Hughes), Bravo also saved his best work for Big 12 games, as the outfielder finished fifth in the league in Big 12-Only batting average (.378), second in total hits (48), tied for fourth in home runs (9) and fifth in total bases (86). Also playing his best ball as of late, Bravo enters the Big 12 Tournament having homered in four of the last six games. Hughes and Bravo were the only two players in the Big 12 to have 40+ hits, 30 or more RBIs and 9+ home runs in league-only contests.

CEBERT'S NEW ROLE

After opening the season (first two weekends) in the rotation and pitching on Opening Day as a starter, Tech reliever Jack Cebert found a home in the bullpen as the righty went 7-1 in Big 12 play and won all seven games out of the bullpen. , Cebert, earned his second postseason all-conference of his career after earning Second Team All-AAC honors at South Florida in 2023. One of the best relievers in the Big 12 this season, Cebert also saved his best work for conference play as the righty went 7-1 this season in B12 contests, pitching to a 2.58 ERA in 45.1 innings and 13 total appearances. For the season, Cebert went 7-3 pitching to a 3.44 ERA in 18 appearances and two starts. Cebert's 45.1 innings pitched in Big 12 contests were the most by a pitcher without a start in Big 12 play in the league, while his 2.58 ERA in Big 12 play was the fifth-lowest by a pitcher in conference-only games. The Big 12s leader in conference-only wins, Cebert pitched at least three innings in nine of his 13 Big 12 appearances and went at least four innings and allowed a run or fewer in six of those 13 appearances. Cebert's seven overall wins are the most by a Red Raider with two or fewer starts since 2018 when Ty Harpenau won seven games without a start and the only reliever since at least 2016 with seven wins out of the bullpen in the regular season.

IMMEDIATE IMPACT FROM NORTH OF THE BORDER

When Tech signed former 2023 JUCO HR king and Tennessee transfer Robin Villeneuve the Red Raiders were hoping they found a middle-of-the-order bat, and they found just that. So far this season Villeneuve leads the Red Raiders in average (.362), doubles (17), on-base percentage (.446) and walks (26). Villeneuve hit .342 in Big12 play with nine doubles, six home runs and 24 RBIs and is one of three Red Raiders with 10+ home runs and 45+ RBIs. Known as a complete player, Villeneuve has also shined in the field this season as the first baseman has made just four errors this season and boasts a fielding percentage of .991.

CROOKED NUMBER HEATER

After winning just 10 of the first 20 contests with a crooked number, the Red Raiders have now won eight-straight games when scoring at least three runs (a crooked number) in at least one turn at-bat. After going just 10-10 in those first 20 instances, the Red Raiders have won the eight-straight to bring their overall record to 18-10 when scoring three or more times in an inning during a game. Over those eight contests, the Red Raiders have 12 crooked numbers including wins at ASU, at ACU, both wins against Arizona, the Game One win at WVU, New Mexico State, the home game against ACU and Saturday's win over BYU. Tech's last win without a crooked number came May 10 against UCF. The Red Raiders have won just twice without scoring 3+ in an inning, the 5/10 win over UCF and Mar. 14 against Houston.

QUALITY STARTS HAVE BROUGHT WINS

With three quality starts (at least six innings pitched) in the last five games (all wins), the Red Raiders are now 8-0 this season when the starter goes at least six innings. The first quality start of the season was Tyler Bourdreau against UCSD (Mar. 5) when the righty went six and did not allow a run. The Red Raiders second six inning performance was Mac Heuer back on Mar. 14 at Houston. Zane Petty was the next Red Raider to go six innings in the Sunday win over Cincy (Apr. 6), followed by another six inning start on Apr. 11 by Heuer. The Red Raiders got eight innings from Zane Petty in the Saturday win at ASU (Apr. 19) before getting six from Connor Mohan at ACU (Apr. 21). The Red Raiders next six inning start was by Heuer on Saturday (Apr. 26) against Arizona with the most recent and last six inning start coming from Zane Petty last Saturday (May 17) at BYU. Conversely, the Red Raiders are just 8-24 in the 32 starts where the starting pitcher has not seen the fifth inning. Tech has lost just three times all season when a starting pitcher has reached the sixth, the Sunday (Mar. 30) loss at K-St where Zane Petty went 5.1 innings in a 5-4 loss, Tech's game two loss to Arizona (Apr. 26) where Tyle Boudreau threw 5.1 innings of two-run ball in a 2-1 loss, and the May 4 setback at WVU where Zane Petty went 5.2 and allowed just three runs in 5-0 loss.

Ninth-seed Tech opens Big 12 Championship Wed vs. Cincinnati

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Damian Bravo

Jack Cebert

Mac Heuer

Logan Hughes

Connor Mohan

Zane Petty

Davis Rivers

Robin Villeneuve

Ninth-seed Tech opens Big 12 Championship Wed vs. Cincinnati

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Damian Bravo

Jack Cebert

Mac Heuer

Logan Hughes

Connor Mohan

Zane Petty

Davis Rivers

Robin Villeneuve

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