Tech heads to Utah for weekend series

SALT LAKE CITY – Texas Tech Baseball hits the road this weekend for a three-game series at Utah this Friday, Saturday and Sunday from America First Ballpark.

Texas Tech and Utah will meet at 7 p.m. (CT)/6 p.m. (MT) before game two of the series arrives on Saturday at 3 p.m. (CT)/2 pm. (MT). The series final is set for 2 p.m. (CT)/1 p.m. (MT).

The matchup is the first all-time between Tech and Utah and will be crucial in the final Big 12 standings as Tech and Utah enter the weekend tied with Cincinnati for 10th in the league standings.

In the most recent Big 12 standing (including Thursday's 19-9 run-rule win for BYU) there are 11 different teams who are tied with the same mark and nine teams are separated by two games in the loss column.

INSIDE THE MATCHUPS:

GAME ONE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (20-16, 6-9 Big 12) at Utah (17-15, 6-9 Big 12)
DATE: Friday, April 17, 2026
TIME: 7 p.m. (CT)/6 p.m. (MT)
LOCATION: Salt Lake City (America First Ballpark)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Jackson Burns (2-2, 5.98 ERA) vs. RHP Ryan Kittredge (0-0, 6.10 ERA)

GAME TWO
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (20-16, 6-9 Big 12) at Utah (17-15, 6-9 Big 12)
DATE: Saturday, April 18, 2026
TIME: 3 p.m. (CT)/2 p.m. (MT)
LOCATION: Salt Lake City (America First Ballpark)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Connor Mohan (0-2, 9.23 ERA) vs. RHP Payton Riske (2-2, 7.68)

GAME THREE
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (20-16, 6-9 Big 12) at Utah (17-15, 6-9 Big 12)
DATE: Sunday, April 19, 2026
TIME: 2 p.m. (CT)/1 p.m. (MT)
LOCATION: Salt Lake City (America First Ballpark)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Adam Hayes (2-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. TBD

HEADLINES IN 1-2-3:
* Texas Tech Baseball will look to bounce back from a disappointing 13-8 setback Wednesday against UIW this weekend when they head to Utah for the first all-time matchup against the Utes. Despite sharing a conference for the the last two seasons, the Utes and Red Raiders have yet to meet.

* With Lukas Pirko suffering an injury, the Red Raiders have switched up the weekend rotation once again, as sophomore Jackson Burn will once again take the ball on Friday night for the Red Raiders. Burns who started opening day against OU, has pitched the last five weekends on both Sunday and Saturday. Moving up to Saturday for the UH series (Game Three) Burns pitched last Saturday afternoon against No. 17 WVU. Burns tossed 7.2 innings of one run ball in Saturday's win.

* The longest tenured Red Raider, Tracer Lopez is projected to play in his 200th game on Friday night. If he does, he'll become just the seventh Red Raider to reach 200 games played and will be the fourth Red Raider in program history to reach 210 hits and 200 games played. Lopez is having a career year so far in 2026 as he has hit .336 with a career-best 14 doubles. Lopez has drove in 27 and has walked 21 times as compared to just 23 strikeouts.

MATCHUP NOTES:

IT'S BEEN CROOKED

Already through the season's first 35 games the Red Raiders have recorded 53 total crooked numbers (3+ runs in an inning) this season. That total is already 10 more than the entire crooked number total from the 2025 season where Tech scored just three runs or more in an inning 43 times. Most impressively, the Red Raiders have 19 single innings of five or more runs and have reached three or more runs in an inning 34 times without a home run including the last 13 total crooked innings.

FEEL THE BURNS

Redshirt freshman Jackson Burns continues to impress on the bump for the Red Raiders, as the righty has now tossed 19.2 innings over his last three start. After tossing back-to-back performances of six innings and two runs, Burns had a career day against No. 17 WVU on Saturday afternoon, tossing 7.2 innings of one-run ball to help the Red Raiders to a 4-1 win over the Mountaineers. Most impressively for Burns was the fact that he tossed six innings of shutout ball with no runs from the Red Raiders offense. Burns who took a shutout deep into the eighth inning, ultimately took a no-decision after allowing a game-tying solo home run. After a slower start to the season, Burns has shined during conference play as he has tossed 28.1 total innings and recorded 28 total strikeouts. After allowing 12 runs in his first two starts of Big 12 play to Kansas and at Arizona, Burns has allowed just five total runs in the 19.2 innings, pitching to an ERA of 2.29. Opponents are hitting just .219 against Burns the last three weeks.

LOOKING TO FIND THE RAIDER POWER

After being one of the nation's top power hitting teams through the season's first 28 games, the Red Raiders have now gone 72 innings (eight full games) without hitting a home run. Ironically, the Red Raiders last three home runs were hit against ACU in the March 31st win when Caden Ferraro homered twice and Logan Hughes also cleared the wall for a home run. Through the season's first 28 games, Tech had hit 43 home runs (1.54 home runs per game). In the weekend series against WVU, the Red Raiders recorded 35 total hits but only recorded seven for extra-bases. Despite the mini power drought the Red Raiders still lead the country in total doubles (108) and are second in scoring (10.0 runs per game) and third in on-base percentage (.450).

T-LO WORKING HIS WAY UP THE RECORDS

When he recorded his 200th career hit against Houston, Senior Tracer Lopez continued his climb toward cracking the Red Raider top-10 hits list Sitting at 210 hits, Lopez need just five more knocks to catch Scott LeJeune for 10th all-time in hits in program history. In addition to chasing the top-10 in total hits, Lopez continues to work his way up the all-time games played list as on Friday, Lopez is projected to play in his 200th career game. He needs just one more game played to become the seventh Red Raider to reach 200 career games played. So far in 2026, Lopez is hitting .336 with a career-high 14 doubles and 48 total hits. When Lopez reaches 200 career games played he will become just the fourth Red Raider all-time to reach 210 hits and 200 games played joining Assistant Coach Eric Gutierrez (264 hits in 244 games), Taylor Ashby (228 hits in 216 games) and Clint Bryant (341 hits in 240 games).

PITCHERS WHO RAKE

With the roster limitations that went into effect before the season and with multiple arms down due to injury, the red Raiders have turned to a pair of two-way standouts on the mound in RHP Connor Shouse and LHP Jesse Ruisnek. Shouse, who tossed a scoreless eighth for the Red Raiders last Tuesday afternoon at UNM has now allowed just one run in his last four appearances on the mound after being tagged for four runs on opening weekend. That stretch began for Shouse with a scoreless innings with two punch outs against Arizona (Mar. 21) and continued with a scoreless ninth inning in a tie game at TCU back on Mar. 28. After being charged with a run and a blown save last Friday (Apr. 3) against UH, he tossed a scoreless inning on Tuesday afternoon at New Mexico. On the year, Shouse has allowed just two hits and struck out eight over his 4.1 total innings. The Red Raiders other two-way impact player, Rusinek, has also flashed on the mound, as the lefty has struck out 16 batters in just 12.1 innings of work. Rusinek, who whiffed four in two scoreless innings at TCU, has struck out at least two batters in five of his 10 appearances. Rusinek is hitting .438 and despite taking just 112 at-bats already is up to 49 hits, while Shouse is hitting .342 and has driven in a team-best 49 runs this season.

STARTING TO ADD[Y] UP

After appearing just once last season and taking a medical redshirt, second-year redshirt freshman Logan Addison continues to pitch well for the Red Raiders as the righty has now tossed six-straight shutout innings. On the season, Addison has struck out 14 in just 13 innings of work and most importantly has walked just four. Opposing batters are hitting just .239 against the Lubbock-area product. After allowing four runs against DBU back on Mar. 17, Addison has been solid over his last seven trips, as the righty has pitched a scoreless effort in six of his seven appearances and has allowed just one run in those seven appearances. After striking out two in a 1-2-3 inning against New Mexico, Addison allowed a solo home run in a one-inning appearance. The righty rebounded the following weekend by pitching two scoreless innings against Houston where he needed just 22 pitches to toss two scoreless innings. In the return contest at New Mexico, Addison needed just 10 pitches to toss a 1-2-3 inning in Albuquerque back on April 7. Last weekend against No. 17 WVU, Addison combined to toss two innings of scoreless, two-hit ball where he struck out four. Addison whiffed all four batters in the Friday contest against the Mountaineers. Addison also tossed a strong 10-pitch 1-2-3 inning on Wednesday night against UIW. In total, Addison has needed 11 pitches or fewer per inning in six of his last seven appearances.

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders kick-off a five-game week on Tuesday night with a home game with Tarleton State. First pitch from Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park is set for 6:30 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Logan Addison

Jackson Burns

Caden Ferraro

Adam Hayes

Logan Hughes

Tracer Lopez

Connor Mohan

Lukas Pirko

Connor Shouse

Texas Tech University Athletics