Texas Tech baseball started a four game set against UAlbany on Friday afternoon and went down 2-0 early after Red Raider starter Jackson Burns struggled a bit to open the game. Davis Rivers would tie the game with a two run single in the bottom of the first, but the Great Danes weren’t done scoring.
In the top of the third, UAlbany scratched three more runs across, before Texas Tech quit messing around in the bottom of the same inning. Connor Shouse led off the inning with an absolute missile off the coke bottle in right field, exploding the cover off the pitch speed tracker. The Red Raiders would add three more, taking their first lead of the game, 6-5.
Texas Tech added two more in the fourth and five in the seventh to blow the game wide open.
The Red Raiders bullpen was mostly successful allowing just three more runs in the game as Texas Tech won game one of the series 16-8.
On Saturday afternoon, Texas Tech and UAlbany started a double-header at noon. Lukas Pirko was on the bump for game one and he threw an absolute gem. Pirko pitched all seven innings scattering five hits and just a single run. The only UAlbany offense came in the seventh inning with Texas Tech already leading 15-0. Pirko struck out seven, but more importantly gave up just two free passes and saved the bullpen for the second game of the double-header.
Offensively, Texas Tech scored two in the first, four in the second and eight in the third. To take the 14-0 lead through three innings. Logan Hughes led the way going 3 for 3 with five RBI. Every single starter for the Red Raiders either scored or got a base hit as Texas Tech dominated the Great Danes pitching staff.
In game three of the series, Donovan Becerra got the start and sat down the Great Danes in order in the first inning. Two fly balls corralled by Kyler Thompson and a strikeout. Texas Tech’s offense was also held scoreless in the first. In the second inning, Becerra walked two straight batters before sitting down three consecutive batters.
After no runs for Texas Tech in the bottom of the second, the Great Danes struck first with a three-run bomb in the top of the third. Texas Tech’s offense, which had 31 runs in the first two games, couldn’t get anything going through three.
Jonny Lowe entered the game in the top of the fourth, shutting down the Great Danes. In the bottom of the frame, Linkin Garcia led off with a double, moving to third on a sac bunt. He’d come home on a balk to give Texas Tech their first run of the game. With two outs, Texas Tech would then load the bases, but a strikeout by Lopez would end the threat. Lowe continued his outing by working around two hit batters to send Texas Tech’s offense back out.
Connor Shouse would hit a lead off bomb down the left field line to cut the deficit to just a single run at 3-2. Nobody scored in the sixth inning as Will Jordan pitched a clean inning, but Heeryun Han had much more of an adventure in the top of the seventh. UAlbany would end up scoring three in the inning, but Texas Tech roared back in the bottom of the seventh. Logan Hughes and Jesse Rusinek both hit two run home runs to tie the game at 6-6.
As eventful as that seventh inning was, the eight was the opposite as both teams hung zeros keeping the game tied setting up a big ninth inning.
Bryce Suiter, who relieved Han in the 7th, stayed in the game for the ninth inning. He’d sit them down in order. In 2.1 innings of work he faced nine batters, striking out two batters and walking zero. He did give up two hits and hit a batter, but mostly clean work to keep the Red Raiders in the game.
Texas Tech came up to bat with an opportunity to walk it off, but the first pitch was out number one for the Red Raiders as Rusinek grounded out. Davis Rivers would later work a walk before Robin Villeneuve would end the game with the Red Raiders third two-run home run of the game.
The Red Raiders won 8-6 and took the series from UAlbany with one last game to play on Sunday afternoon. First pitch in that one is scheduled for 1:00 pm and you can hear the action on Double T 97-3.
