Tech and UNM meet Tuesday in Albuquerque

Tuesday, March 24

2 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

New Mexico

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The Red Raiders Sing The Matador Song following Saturday's win over Houston

Tech and UNM meet Tuesday in Albuquerque

April 06, 2026 | Baseball

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The Red Raiders will seek to sweep the season series from UNM for the first time since 2018

By: Andrew Stern

ALBUQUERQUE – Two weeks after a 12-2, eight inning run-rule home win, Texas Tech Baseball will seek the season series sweep of the Lobos in Albuquerque Tuesday afternoon at the Lobo Ballpark.

In the road portion of the home-and-home, Texas Tech will turn to sophomore Kaysen Raineri for his first start as a Red Raider. Raineri will be making his eighth overall appearance of the season.

The Red Raiders enter the Tuesday midweek leading the country in total hits, doubles and average, and are second in on-base percentage.

Following the roadtrip to the 505, the Red Raiders will return to Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park for a pivotal three-game weekend set with No. 17 West Virginia.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (18-13) at New Mexico (19-11-1)
DATE: Tuesday, Apr. 7, 2026
TIME: 3 p.m. (CT)/2 p.m. (MT)
LOCATION: Albuquerque, N.M. (Lobo Ballpark)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Kaysen Raineri (2-0, 7.90 ERA) vs. Ethin Woltz (0-1, 13.91)

HEADLINES IN 1-2-3:
* Texas Tech heads to Albuquerque for a midweek contest against New Mexico Tuesday afternoon. The Red Raiders and Lobos are meeting in the midweek for the second time in two weeks, as Tech and UNM played on Mar. 24 in Lubbock. In that contest, the Red Raiders used five scoreless innings from freshman Adam Hayes and six first innings runs to cruise to a 12-2 win over the Lobos. In the Mar. 24 contest in Lubbock, the Red Raiders did face UNM projected starter Ethin Woltz, touching up the righty for four runs (three earned) in two innings pitched.

* After the weekend series with Houston, the Red Raiders need just 16 runs to equal last season's 344 run total. The Red Raiders have scored 328 this season and have 17 games with at least 10 runs scored. The Red Raiders also have 406 total hits on the year (13.1 per game). Entering the ninth week of the season, the Red Raiders lead the country in batting average (.363) and are also first in doubles (91), hits (406) and doubles per game (2.94). The Red Raiders .461 on-base percentage ranks second nationally behind only GT (.480). The Red Raiders are also third in the country in total runs scored and second in scoring (10.6 runs per game). In total four Red Raiders sit inside the top-75 nationally in doubles (Ferraro, Linkin Garcia, Logan Hughes and Tracer Lopez).

* 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.

MIDWEEK NOTES (UNM):

IT'S BEEN CROOKED

Already through the season's first 31 games the Red Raiders have recorded 46 total crooked numbers (3+ runs in an inning). That total is three more than the entire 53-game season total a season ago. The Red Raiders are 18-7 in the 24 games with at least one crooked number and are 14-2 this season when recording three or more runs in multiple innings. The lone two losses this season were Thursday night against Houston and at DBU (Mar. 17). The Red Raiders have 19 innings of at least five runs or more.

OFFENSIVE NUMBERS ARE EQUAL IN AND OUT OF B12 PLAY

Boasting one of the nation's best and most consistent offenses, the Red Raiders have recorded pretty similar numbers both in and out of conference play this season. Entering Big 12 play with one of the nation's best offenses, Tech has hit .342 in Big 12 play with 46 of its 144 total extra-base hits on the season (31.9 percent) coming in league play. Tech has played just 38.7 percent of its games against league foes this season. Overall the Red Raiders are hitting .363 as a team and have recorded an OPS of 1.037 through the season's first 31 games.

LINEUP SWITCH UP

After playing the same lineup for 10-straight contests, head coach Tim Tadlock switched up his starting lineup heading into Friday's second game against Houston, as he started Coleman Ryan at shortstop and moved Linkin Garcia back to third base. On Saturday afternoon, Tadlock started versatile infielder Connor Shouse in left and moved Logan Hughes from left to first base. Tadlock did start Ryan at short and Garcia at third. Hughes who had started the season's first 30 games in left field, made his first start of the season at 1B. The outfielder did play three games at first base a season ago including in the opening weekend of the season at No. 6 North Carolina. Ryan who started at SS for the first time since opening weekend went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored in the Saturday win.

LOOKING TO SWEEP THE LOBOS

Heading into the second game of the home-and-home series with UNM, Tech will be looking for its first season sweep of the Lobos since the 2018 season when Tech defeated New Mexico in Lubbock 7-2 and in Albuquerque 20-9. The Red Raiders are just 2-4 in their last six matchups in Albuquerque including last season's 15-5 setback to the Lobos in New Mexico. The Red Raiders last win in ABQ was was in 2024 when Tech defeated UNM 11-8. In total, four of the last five matchups between Tech and UNM has featured the winning team with at least 10 runs scored.

LOOKING TO SWEEP THE LOBOS

RAINERI IS THE STARTER

Hawai'i transfer Kaysen Raineri, Tech's projected starter on Tuesday afternoon against UNM will be making his eighth appearance of the season and first start of the season. Raineri who earned the win in Red Raider debut at UTRGV has not tossed more than 1.2 innings in his last five appearances since tossing 3.2 in the win against the Vaqueros and 4.0 innings against UAlbany. Raineri has struck out 19 batters in 13.2 innings.

T-LO WORKING HIS WAY UP THE RECORDS

When he recorded his 200th career hit last week against Houston, Senior Tracer Lopez continued his climb toward cracking the Red Raider top-10 hits list Sitting at 201 hits, Lopez need just 14 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 Saturday afternoon, Lopez played in his 194th career game tying Joey Kenworthy for eighth all-time on the Red Raiders all-time game list. If he's in the lineup on Tuesday, Lopez will tie Randy DuRoss for seventh on the list at 195 career games. Lopez needs just six more games to become the seventh player in school history to reach 200 career games played.

REV THE RARI

Blinn College transfer and 2024 National Champion Caden Ferraro continues to make an immediate impact for the Red Raiders in 2026, as he enters play this week with the fourth-best average in the country, at .443. Ferraro trails UNLVs Drew Barragan by just one percentage point for third place in the country. Ferraro also sits seventh in the country in on-base percentage (.550) and leads the Big 12 in OBP. Last week in the Red Raiders four-game week, Ferraro went 9-for-14 with two home runs and seven RBIs. He walked five times including four times in Saturday's win over UH. Ferraro went a perfect 4-4 on Friday meaning he reached base in eight of his final nine plate appearances on the weekend. On the season, Ferraro is hitting a team-best .443 and has hit five home runs and drove in 35 runs. He also leads the team in doubles (14). Ferraro's 14 doubles are 11th nationally and are tied for the Big 12 lead.

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders close out the back-to-back home Big 12 weekends with a weekend series against No. 17 West Virginia. First pitch from Lubbock is set for 6:30 p.m. on Friday.