Tech and UH ready for weekend series

Thursday, April 2

6:30 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

Houston

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Jesse Ruisnek Celebrates following Tech's 15-4 win over ACU

April 01, 2026 | Baseball

Game Notes (PDF) Tickets

The Red Raiders and Cougars will meet in Lubbock this Thursday-Saturday

By: Andrew Stern

LUBBOCK, Texas – Fresh off a 15-4 (8 inn.) win over ACU on Tuesday night, Texas Tech Baseball continues a key home week this Thursday-through-Saturday when the Houston Cougars come to Lubbock.

The Red Raiders have won all six conference matchups and the last eight games in the overall series against UH dating back to a 2014 loss at Minute Maid Park.

Thursday's series opener will be the first two of two "Bark in the Park" nights, as Red Raider Nation will be able to bring their favorite four-legged friends (waiver required) to Rip Griffin Park for the 6:30 p.m. first pitch.

As part of Bark in the Park, the first 150 dogs will receive a Texas Tech branded dog bowl.

On Friday afternoon the promotions keep rolling as it will be Video Game Day featuring your favorite Red Raiders as MLB The Show characters. As part of Friday's festivities kids can run the bases after the game.

For the series finale on Saturday afternoon at Noon, Texas Tech will be giving away Tech branded East Egg Bags to the first 150 kids and will be hosting a post-game Easter Egg Hunt.

INSIDE THE MATCHUPS:

GAME ONE:

MATCHUP: Texas Tech (17-11, 4-5 Big 12) vs. Houston (13-14, 1-8 Big 12)
DATE: Thursday, Apr. 2, 2026
TIME: 6:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas (Rip Griffin Park)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Lukas Pirko (3-2, 6.12 ERA) vs. Connor Udland (1-2, 5.25 ERA)

GAME TWO:

MATCHUP: Texas Tech (17-11, 4-5 Big 12) vs. Houston (13-14, 1-8 Big 12)
DATE: Friday, Apr. 3, 2026
TIME: 2 p.m.
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas (Rip Griffin Park)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Connor Mohan (0-2, 8.57 ERA) vs. Kendall Hoffman (1-3, 4.58 ERA)

GAME THREE:

MATCHUP: Texas Tech (17-11, 4-5 Big 12) vs. Houston (13-14, 1-8 Big 12)
DATE: Saturday, Apr. 4, 2026
TIME: Noon
LOCATION: Lubbock, Texas (Rip Griffin Park)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Jackson Burns (1-2, 7.80 ERA) vs. RHP Paul Schmitz (2-2, 7.27 ERA)

HEADLIINES IN 1-2-3:
* Texas Tech behind another strong start from Freshman Adam Hayes bounced-backed on Tuesday night defeating ACU 15-4 in eight innings. The run-rule win for the Red Raiders was their eighth run-rule win of the season. In the win, Tech got a pair of home runs from DH Caden Ferraro and three hits apiece from shortstop Linkin Garcia and catcher Matt Quintanar. Garcia and Quintanar made up two of the five-man bottom-half of the Red Raider order that went a combined 13-for-20 with 10 runs scored and seven RBIs. On the mound, Freshman Adam Hayes tossed 5.2 innings of four-run ball to earn his second win of the season.

* With the 15-run performance, Texas Tech eclipsed 300 (301 to be exact) runs scored for the season. In 53 total games a season ago, the Red Raiders scored just 344 total runs. In total the Red Raiders need just 18 total doubles and the aforementioned 43 runs to equal their 2025 output. Entering the weekend, the Red Raiders sit second in the country in batting average (.362) and second in the country in total runs (301). The Red Raiders trail just Georgia Tech on both the average and total runs scored lists. Texas Tech, Georgia Tech and Miami are the only three teams in the country to have reached 300 runs scored this season.

* As the season inches toward its mid point, seven Red Raiders were selected as a Top-50 player (100 for outfielders) at their respective position in the mid-season D1Baseball positional rankings. Highlighted by top 2026 MLB Draft prospect Logan Hughes who was tabbed the 10th-best outfielder in the country as well as third baseman Connor Shouse who checked in at No. 11 on the third base list, the Red Raiders saw every member of the infield selected. Starting with catcher Matt Quintanar, the Red Raiders were represented at catcher, first base, second base, third base, shortstop and twice in the outfield.

WEEKEND NOTES (UH):

D1 TOP-50

As the season hits its midpoint, multiple College Baseball publications have begun to distribute their midseason awards and honors. As part of the "midseason awards" run, D1Baseball.com did an updated Top-50 list (by position) earlier in the week. The publications top-50 players (100 for outfielders) included seven different Red Raiders including the entire starting Texas Tech infield of Catcher Matt Quintanar (No. 26), 1B Robin Villeneuve (No. 17), second baseman Tracer Lopez (No. 44), SS Linkin Garcia (No. 25) and third baseman Connor Shouse (No. 11). Expanding to 100 players for the outfield, the Red Raiders saw two outfielders selected amongst the nation's top-100 as junior Logan Hughes (No. 10) and Caden Ferraro (No. 91) were selected by the publication. The Red Raiders seven position players selected were tied for the most in the country with Arizona State, Georgia Tech and Louisville.

DYNAMIC FRESHMEN

The Red Raiders have leaned heavily on three freshmen so far this season as righty Adam Hayes, two-way star Jesse Rusinek and SS Linkin Garcia have all made immediate impacts this season. A native of Colorado, Hayes is 2-0 so far this season and has won back-to-back midweek contests for the Red Raiders. Tech's other two position player freshmen, Rusinek and Garcia have been mainstays in the lineup this season, as Garcia has started and played all 28 games for the Red Raiders, while Rusinek has played in 22 and started 20. Garcia is hitting .368 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 39 RBis, while his classmate Rusinek is hitting .446 with two home runs, 21 RBIs and 20 runs scored. Rusinek is slugging .676 and his OBP sits at .549. Rusinek is second in the Big 12 amongst qualified hitters in average and eighth nationally in batting average. On Wednesday afternoon, the Red Raiders saw Garcia named a candidate for National Freshman of the Year by Baseball America while he and Rusinek were named First Team Midseason Freshmen All-American.

SHOUSE THRIVING AT THE PLATE AND ON THE BUMP

After making just one pitching appearance over the Red Raiders first 21 games, Texas Tech infielder and right-handed pitch Connor Shouse has tossed a pair of strong innings of the last two weekends. Two weeks ago at Arizona, Shouse tossed a scoreless eighth inning on Saturday night and struck out two batters. He landed 13 of his 19 pitches for strikes. Returning to the mound for his third career appearance, Shouse was also dominate last Saturday as he needed just 17 pitches to strike out tow in a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning that sent the Red Raiders to extra innings. At the plate, Shouse has been one of the Red Raiders best bats, as he has hit .372 with eight home runs and a team-best 41 RBIs. Shouse, who also leads the Red Raiders squad in total hits (45) has also scored 37 runs and added seven doubles and two triples.

A MUCH NEEDED BOUNCE-BACK

Following a tough three-game weekend in Fort Worth where the Red Raiders saw TCU win back-to-back one-run ballgames in their final trip to the plate, Tim Tadlock's team made a major bounce back on Tuesday night against ACU, defeating the Wildcats 15-4 in eight innings. In the win, Freshman Adam Hayes allowed just one unearned run through the first 5.2 innings of his night before a three-run home run from ACU put three more runs (all earned) on Hayes' ledger. In the win, all nine Texas Tech starting players has one hit and at least one run scored including DH Caden Ferraro who went 4-for-5 with two home runs, two doubles and four RBIs. Ferraro who homered in the second to give the Red Raiders a 2-0 lead, hit a run-rule clinching two-run home run in the eighth inning of the win. With the bottom of the Red Raider lineup again setting the tone, Tadlock saw hitters 5-6-7-8-9 in his lineup go a combined 13-for-20 with 10 runs scored and 7 RBIs. Ferraro's two homer game was his first as a Red Raider. In the win, the Red Raiders eclipsed 300 total runs scored for the season and improved to 14-3 at Rip Griffin Park this season.

RUSINEK EARNS NATIONAL HONORS

Freshman Jesse Rusinek was tabbed Baseball America's Two-Way Player of the Week Tuesday afternoon after the outfielder/lefty reliever went 7-for-16 with a home run, five RBIs and three runs scored before adding two scoreless innings and four strikeouts. On Saturday, Rusinek went 4-for-6 at the the plate with three RBIs and a stolen base as well as pitching the two scoreless innings with four strikeouts on the mound.

IF YOU LIKE OFFENSE...

Entering the weekend with 301 total runs scored in their first 28 games played, the Red Raiders have boasted one of the nation's best offenses this season. After scoring just 344 total runs in 53 games played a season ago, the Red Raider offense needs just 43 total runs to tie the 2026 offensive output. After hitting just .287 with a .468 slugging percentage and an OPS of just .833 the Red Raiders have slashed an impressive .362/.459/1.049 through the seasons first nearly 30 games. Through the seasons first 28 games Texas Tech has scored double figures in 16 of the 28 games. All of last season (53 total games) the Red Raiders scored 10+ runs in just 13 total games. In addition to needed just 43 runs to tie the 2025 output, the Red Raiders need just 19 total doubles to equal the 2025 output.

T-LO 100 AND T-LO 200?

With his two RBI double in the fifth inning infielder Tracer Lopez hit one milestone and moved closer to a second, as the senior form Rosebud, Texas, drove in his 101st and 102nd runs in the win over ACU. Lopez who sits just one hit away from reaching 200, has now played in 191 games with 184 starts and will hit 700 career at-bats when his takes his fourth at-bat this weekend. Lopez is a career .286 hitter and has hit a career-best 10 doubles this season to bring his career double total to 31.

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders hit the road Tuesday for a midweek contest at New Mexico. First pitch from Albuquerque is set for 3 p.m. (CT)/2 p.m. (MT)