CINCINNATI – Texas Tech Baseball closes the 2026 regular season with a three-game Thursday-Friday-Saturday series against the University of Cincinnati.
Making its first all-time trip to the Queen City, Tech and Cincy have played five times since the Bearcats joined the Big 12 Conference before the 2024 season, including the last two Big 12 Tournaments in Arlington. The Red Raiders played host to \
Cincinnati a season ago in Lubbock when the Bearcats took two-of-three. The two sides have split the two meetings at Globe Life Field with Tech winning in 2024 (10-5) before UC rebounded with a 6-5 win last year.
The Red Raiders enter the weekend one game clear of 13th-place Arizona and a game behind 11th-place Kansas State. The
Red Raiders own the tiebreaker over both Kansas State and Arizona. Tech can clinch the Big 12 Tournament with any combination of two wins and two Arizona loses.
INSIDE THE MATCHUPS:
GAME ONE:
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (26-25, 9-18 Big 12) vs. No. 25 Cincinnati (35-18, 15-12 Big 12)
DATE: Thursday, May 14, 2026
TIME: 6 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (CT)
LOCATION: Cincinnati, Ohio (UC Baseball Stadium)
PITCHING MATCHUP: RHP Kaysen Raineri (4-1, 6.35 ERA) vs. RHP Nate Taylor (5-2, 3.93 ERA)
GAME TWO: Â
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (26-25, 9-18 Big 12) vs. No. 25 Cincinnati (35-18, 15-12 Big 12)
DATE: Friday, May 15, 2026
TIME: 6 p.m. (ET)/5 p.m. (CT)
LOCATION: Cincinnati, Ohio (UC Baseball Stadium)
PITCHING MATCHUP: TBA Â vs. RHP Logan Knight (4-3, 4.77 ERA)
GAME THREE: Â
MATCHUP: Texas Tech (26-25, 9-18 Big 12) vs. No. 25 Cincinnati (35-18, 15-12 Big 12)
DATE: Saturday, May 16, 2026
TIME: 1 p.m. (ET)/Noon (CT)
LOCATION: Cincinnati, Ohio (UC Baseball Stadium)
PITCHING MATCHUP: TBA vs. Connor Blue (4-1, 4.64 ERA)
HEADLINES IN 1-2-3:
* Texas Tech makes its first career trip to Cincinnati this weekend to face the Bearcats. After not playing UC in its first season in the Big 12, the Red Raiders and Bearcats met in Lubbock in 2025. Tech has also faced UC in both the 2024 and 2025 Big 12 Tournaments with the Red Raiders taking the 2024 matchup and UC taking the 2025 matchup at Globe Life Field. Cincinnati is the final "new" Big 12 foe that Tech has yet to face on the road, as the Red Raiders traveled to BYU and Arizona State a season ago, and to Utah back on April 17-19. The Red Raiders traveled to UCF in 2024.Â
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* After guiding his Red Raiders to wins in four of five and three key wins against DBU (Tuesday) and BYU (Thursday and Saturday) at home last weekend, head coach Tim Tadlock enters the weekend with 499 career victories and will look to join Larry Hayes as the the only two head coaches in program history to reach 500 career wins. Tadlock won his 499th game on Saturday in his 800th career game as the skipper of his alma matter. The win was also Tech's 20th home win of the season as Tadlock won 20 games at home for 11th time in his 13 full seasons (excludes the COVID-19 pandemic).
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* Winners of four-of-five overall and three-of-four in league play, the Red Raiders enter the weekend one game clear of Arizona for the 12th and final spot in the 2026 Big 12 Tournament, and just one full game behind Kansas State for 11th in the final standings. Tech would own the tiebreaker with both of "Wildcats" as Tech won the series against Arizona back on Mar. 20-22. The Red Raiders and Kansas State did not play in the regular season but the tiebreaker would go to Tech by virtue of its series win over Kansas (if KU finishes first) or one win vs WVU (if WVU wins the league). KST got swept by both KU and WVU.
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WEEKEND NOTES (UC):
T-LO STAYED HOT
Tracer Lopez continues to shine in his final season with the Scarlet and Black, as so far in 2026 Lopez is hitting .366 with a career-high 70 hits and a career-best 19 doubles. Lopez has now played in 211 career games and made 204 career starts recording 775 at-bats, 170 runs scored and 233 total hits. Lopez is now solo sixth in the all-time hits category and needs just three knocks to pass Randy DuRoss for fifth all-time on the Red Raiders hit list. Lopez's 170 runs scored are eighth all-time in program history and his next run will tie the infielder with Barrett Barnes (171) for seventh on the all-time run list. On Thursday night in the series opener against BYU, Lopez will appear in his 212th career game moving into a tie with Michael Davis and Madison Edwards for fourth on the all-time games plated list. If Lopez plays in all six of the remaining games for the Red Raiders he can move into the third place on the all-time games played list Lopez has also taken the fourth-most at-bats in school history and needs just seven at-bats to tie Taylor Ashby for the third-most Abs in program history. Lopez is already just one of four players in program history to reach 210 career hits and 200 games played joining Eric Gutierrez (264 hits in 244 games), Taylor Ashby (228 hits in 216 games) and Clint Bryant (341 hits in 240 games)..
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BACK IN THE WIN COLUMNÂ
After dropping both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday, the Red Raiders used a key come-from-behind win on Sunday against Baylor to snap a five-game losing streak overall and a nine-game Big 12 Conference losing streak, as the Red Raiders avoided getting swept for the third-straight weekend. The win also put the Red Raiders into a tie with Arizona for the 12th and final Big 12 Conference Tournament spot in the event. If Tech and Arizona end the season tied in the standings, the Red Raiders would win the tiebreaker by virtue of the March series win in Tucson. Tech plays host to BYU this weekend before traveling to Cincinnati next week for a three-game set in the Queen City. The Wildcats welcome Houston for a weekend set this weekend before traveling to Stillwater for a weekend series with Oklahoma State to close Big 12 play. The Red Raiders are also now just within two games of Kansas State for 11th in the Big 12 standings. KST who got swept over the weekend in Morgantown, welcomes Cincinnati this weekend before traveling to UCF to close conference play. If Tech could catch Kansas State it would also hold the tiebreaker as the tiebreaker would move to results against the highest seed opponent. In this case Tech and K-St have Kansas as their common opponent with the highest standing in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders took 2-of-3 from Kansas while KST was swept at home by KU.Â
HUGHES IS HEATING UP AND ROCKETING UP THE DRAFT BOARDS
A year after leading the Big 12 in total home runs (19) and Big 12 only home runs (11) in the regular season, Texas Tech outfielder
Logan Hughes continues to shine in Big 12 play. After hitting .376 with 11 home runs and 30 RBIs in Big 12 play a season ago and slashing .376/.436/.760, Hughes has once again been one of the most productive players in Big 12 play again in 2026, as the outfielder is now 40-for-103 (.388) in conference play this season and is slashing .388/.492/.699 through his first 27 games this season. On Sunday Hughes hit his eighth home run of the season in Big 12 play and his 19th career home run in league play. If Hughes can hit one more Big 12 home run he would join Josh Bard as the only two Red Raiders in program history to launch 20 home runs in Big 12 play. Hughes' 11 long balls in league play a season ago were the fourth-most home runs in a Big 12 season in Texas Tech history behind just Joe Dillion (15), Josh Bard (12) and Jace Jung (12). Despite playing just under two full seasons Hughes sits tied with Keith Ginter and Jace Jung for second on the all-time Big 12 Only Homers list. Hughes enters the weekend fifth all-time in Big 12 RBIs and needs just four RBIs to move to third and five runs driven in to reach third. The outfielder after being projected in the late Second Round of the 2026 MLB Draft is now getting buzz at a First Round Pick in the 2026 MLB Draft held in Philadelphia during All-Star Weekend. Hughes was mocked at No. 28 to the Houston Astros in Perfect Games' latest MLB Mock Draft. Hughes was tabbed the No. 46 prospect in the draft by Baseball America. The outfielder has now homered in four of his last five games (all Tech wins) and seven of the Red Raiders last 12 contests. Most impressively for Hughes is the fact that he's worked his way up the leaderboards in just two seasons. Ginter reached 19 Big 12 home runs also in two seasons, while Jung did it in three. Overall, Hughes has launched 35 career home runs and enters the weekend in Cincinnati needing just one home run to catch Eric Gutierrez for ninth all-time on the Red Raider home run list and just two shy of tying Dion Rucker and John Grimes for seventh.
THE PATH IS SIMPLE
As the 2026 season reaches its conclusion this weekend in the Queen City, the path for Tech to clinch in a berth in next week's Big 12 Tournament is simple, as the Red Raiders would clinch in a berth in the aforementioned Big 12 Tournament in Surprise, Ariz., with any combination of two wins and two Arizona losses. Sitting one full game clear of Arizona with the tiebreaker by virtue of the series win Tech secured in Tucson back in March, the Red Raiders also sit just one full game ahead of Kansas State for the 11th spot in the events field. If Tech, Kansas and Arizona end the weekend in a three-way tie for the final two spots in the Big 12 Tournament, the Red Raiders and Kansas State would advance due to the league's tiebreaker protocols. Both Tech and Kansas State won 2-of-3 against Arizona in Tucson, and because the Red Raiders and Wildcats of K-State did not meet in the regular season the tiebreaker would be record against the highest finishing common opponent. With Kansas and West Virginia sitting just one game apart for the top two spots in the Big 12 standings, Tech would win the tiebreaker over KST if either WVU or Kansas win the Big 12 regular season title. Tech won the series against Kansas and won one-of-three meetings with WVU, while Kansas State was swept by both.Â
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ONE FROM 500
In his 14th season at the helm of his alma matter, head coach Tim Tadlock enters the weekend just three wins shy of reaching 500 career wins. Tadlock, who has guided the Red Raiders to three Big 12 titles and four trips to Omaha, enters the weekend with a career record of 497-300. In Saturday's home finale against BYU, Tadlock will coach in his 800th career game as the Red Raiders head coach. If Tadlock can reach 500 wins this season he would join Larry Hayes (813-479-3) as the only head coaches in program history to reach 500 career win and would be the 15th active head coach to reach 500 wins in college.
FIRST TIME IN THE QUEEN CITY AFTER FIVE IN TEXAS
While Tech and Cincinnati will not be meeting for either the first time or the first series all-time between the two schools, they will be meeting for the first time in Cincinnati as the previous five matchups all occurred in Texas. In 2024, Cincinnati's first year in the league, Tech defeated UC 10-5 at the Big 12 Tournament. In 2025, Cincinnati and Tech met for the first time on the weekend, with the Bearcats winning 2-of-3 games winning the first two games of the series before the Red Raiders rebounded for the series finale win (12-8). In the series opener in Lubbock, the Red Raiders took a 7-5 lead into the ninth before UC used two runs to tie it and force extras before winning in the 12th. In the game, Tech faced projected UC starter Nathan Taylor. Taylor pitched 5.0 innings and allowed six runs (three earned) and took a no decision. In the lone Red Raider win Logan Hughes hit a go-ahead two run double. In the 2025 Big 12 First Round, Cincy and Tech met again with Taylor and UC taking a 6-5 win to eliminate the Red Raiders. Taylor tossed seven innings of three-run ball and struck out nine. Taylor also pitched in the 2024 Big 12 Tournament matchup as the righty tossed two hitless innings in the Red Raiders 10-5 win elimination game win. 
