Tech welcomes CSU Bakersfield for weekend set

Friday, February 27

2 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

CSU Bakersfield

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Tech welcomes CSU Bakersfield for weekend set

February 26, 2026 | Baseball

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The Red Raiders and roadrunners have never met previously

By: Andrew Stern

LUBBOCK, Texas – Riding a five-game winning streak, Texas Tech Baseball continues a 15-game homestand this weekend when it welcomes CSU Bakersfield for a three-game weekend set.

The series begins with a pair of 2 p.m. games on Friday and Saturday before continuing on Sunday morning at 11 a.m.

After an 0-3 start to the season with a couple of competitive losses to both nationally-ranked Oklahoma and nationally-ranked Arkansas, the Red Raider bats have come alive over the five-game winning streak, as

Tech has outscored UTRGV and UAlbany 70-27 over the stretch and the Red Raiders have hit .406 with 31 extra-base hits (21 doubles, a triple and nine home runs) and just 31 strikeouts.

On the mound, the Red Raiders have allowed just nine extra-base hits and just four home runs the last five games (all wins).

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
GAME ONE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (5-3) vs. CSU Bakersfield (4-5)
DATE: Friday, Feb. 27, 2026
TIME: 2 p.m.
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas (Rip Griffin Park)
PITCHING ROTATION: RHP Jackson Burns (0-0, 6.43 ERA) vs. Ryan King (0-0, 3.72 ERA)

GAME TWO:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (5-3) vs. CSU Bakersfield (4-5)
DATE: Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026
TIME: 2 p.m.
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas (Rip Griffin Park)
PITCHING ROTATION: RHP Lukas Pirko (1-1, 5.06 ERA) vs. RHP Shane McAlinden (0-2, 13.50 ERA)

GAME THREE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (5-3) vs. CSU Bakersfield (4-5)
DATE: Sunday, Mar. 1. 2026
TIME: 11 a.m.
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas (Rip Griffin Park)
PITCHING ROTATION: RHP Connor Mohan (0-0, 1.17 ERA) vs. RHP Roman Bracamonte (0-0, 12.46 ERA)

HIGHLIGHTS IN 1-2-3:
* Texas Tech continues a 15-game homestand this weekend when the roadrunners of Cal State Bakersfield make their first ever trip to the Hub City. Take and CSUB have never met before in program history overall. The Roadrunners enter the weekend at 4-5 after dropping a tough 10-8, 12-inning contest at home on Tuesday night.

* Texas Tech enters the weekend riding high after a four-game weekend sweep of the Great Danes of UAlbany, the first four-game sweep for a Red Raider ballclub since 2023. The Red Raiders outscored UAlbany , 49-15 over the four-game series and scored 47 of the final 57 runs. After blowing open Game One late, the Red Raiders got a complete game five-hit one run gem from junior Lukas Pirko to close out a 15-1 win. In the night cap, the Red Raiders erased deficits of 3-0 and 6-2 to win 8-6 on a walk-off home run by Robin Villenueve. On Sunday, the Red Raiders closed out the four-game series sweep behind eight shutout innings from Connor Mohan and Kaysen Raineri in a 10-0 win.

* After scoring just 11 runs in three games in Arlington, the Red Raider bats have exploded over the five-game winning streak, as Tech has scored 50 times in that five-game span and are hitting .406 as a team with 21 doubles and 31 extra-base hits. The Red Raiders have walked 48 times and been hit by six pitches while limiting the strikeouts to just 31 total or just over six per contest. Four Red Raiders are hitting over .400 in that span including Connor Shouse (.524), Matt Quintanar (.476), Logan Hughes (.474) and Linkin Garcia (.429).

WEEKEND NOTES

THE MISSING LINK

After playing multiple options at the premium shortstop position the last five seasons, the Red Raiders seemed to have settled on former A3 Academy product Linkin Garcia. A native of Huntington Beach, Calif., Garcia was named the Big 12s Newcomer of the Week (Freshman or Transfer) after hitting .429 on the five-game week with four doubles three home runs and 13 RBIs. Garcia also scored 11 times over the span, and recorded an OPS of over 1.500 at 1.567. Garcia who was a consensus top-100 recruit out of high school, is now hitting .344 during his first season in college with an OPS of 1.200. Garcia has walked six times and struck out just six times in nearly 40 plate appearances (32 at-bats). Garcia also homered three times last week including a 447-foot 111 MPH blast at UTRGV last week and a 110 MPH blast against UAlbany. Garcia is currently the Red Raiders leader in home runs (3), slugging percentage (.750), total bases (24) and doubles (4). He is second on the squad in hits (11) and second in RBIs (13). Garcia, who homered twice last week in Edinburg became the fourth Red Raider (Landon Stripling, Cal Conley and Cole Stillwell) freshman to homer twice in a game (since 2018) and was just third true freshman to accomplish the feat joining Stillwell and Conley. Garcia's first home run against UTRGV last week was the first long ball by a Texas Tech SS in 61 games (Will Burns vs UNLV, May 17, 2024).

SHUTDOWN INNING SUCCESS

After a 2025 season where the shutdown inning proved elusive (a zero fired in the next half inning that the Red Raider scored at least one run), Tech has now fired 11-straight shutdown innings and has fired a zero in 17 of the last 21 instances following a run. On the season, the Red Raiders are an impressive 21-of-28 (75 percent) on shutdown innings. After going 1-for-3 in the first three instances following a run on Friday against UAlbany, the Red Raiders recorded a shutdown inning in the final inning they scored in Friday and the next 10-consecutive. After allowing eight runs in the first contest against UAlbany, the Red Raider arms combined to allow just seven runs in the final three contests of the series including a complete game one-run performance from Lukas Pirko and a Sunday shutout.

PIRKOLATED

Junior Lukas Pirko toed the rubber on Saturday for the first game of the double dip against Albany and delivered one of the best performances of his Texas Tech career, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning and a shutout deep into the seventh inning before allowing a two-out run in that frame. Pirko whiffed seven Great Dane batters and needed just 90 total pitches to fire the first complete game since Brandon Birdsell threw a CG against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the back-end of a doubleheader. Birdsell's complete game effort came on the backs of a CG from rotation mate Andrew Morris in the first game of the double dip against WVU. According to the Bill James formula for game score (0-100 where a 50 is deemed an average performance), Pirko earned a 67, becoming the first Red Raider starting pitcher to pitch into the seventh inning since Zane Petty tossed eight innings in the Saturday win at Arizona State last Apr. 19 in a 12-8 Red Raider victory.

BLAME IT ON THE RAIN[ERI]

California native (Temecula) and Hawai'i transfer Kaysen Raineri made the most of his first two appearances as a Red Raider, tossing a combined 7.2 innings allowing two runs in a pair of Tech wins. Entering in the second inning of last Tuesday's game with UTRGV with his Red Raider squad down 8-2, Raineri helped settle the game down for the Red Raiders as he tossed three scoreless frames in the Valley before allowing a pair of solo home runs in his fourth inning of work. Raineri, who tossed 89 total pitches at UTRGV in that contest allowed just three hits and two runs (both via the solo long ball) and struck out six. And while Tuesday's performance was both solid and clutch, it was merely the appetizer for the main performance of the week for Raineri as the righty was simply spectacular against UAlbany on Sunday afternoon pitching the final four innings of the Red Raiders eight-inning run-rule victory over UAlbany. Raineri faced just one over the minimum (one hit) in four stellar innings. He walked seven and needed just 46 pitches to record the games final 12 outs. Raineri landed 32 of his 46 offerings for strikes and did not walk a batter. After the first two weeks of the season he leads the Red Raiders in strikeouts (13) and is tied with Connor Mohan for second on the team in total innings (7.2). Opposing batters are hitting just .143 against the righty.

SUNDAY MO

One of the Red Raider bright spots through the seasons first two weeks has been sophomore starter Connor Mohan. A native of Burleson, Texas, Mohan has been very good in his two outings thus far as after a strong performance against Arkansas the righty tossed four scoreless innings in the Sunday victory over the Great Danes. On the season, Mohan has struck out eight batters in 7.2 innings and is holding opposing batters to just a .179 average. Mohan, who will take the ball again on Sunday, has allowed just one earned run.

LOGAN LOVES HOME COOKING

After hitting just .091 in the three games in Arlington and just .188 on the road trip, Logan Hughes returned to Logan Hughes form last weekend against UAlbany going 7-for-14 with two doubles and two home runs. Hughes who tallied 15 total bases over his 20 total plate appearances and 14 official at-bats, scored eight times and walked six times. Hughes homered in both legs of the Saturday double header recording his 20th and 21st home runs as a Red Raider. Hughes needs just 12 long balls to tie assistant coach Eric Gutierrez for 10th all-time on the Red Raider home run list. In 60 games as a Red Raider, Hughes is now hitting .328 with 21 home runs 71 RBIs and has recorded a strikeout-to-walk-ratio of 36-to-28. Hughes hit .340 with 13 home runs a season ago at Rip Griffin Park and is now a career .360 (40-for-111) career at the ballpark.

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders return to action next weekend when Penn State pays a visit to Lubbock for a three-game weekend series. The weekend will get going on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. with the next two games set for 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. starts respectively.