Andrew Morris turned in 5.1 innings of two-hit pitching Friday night as the Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-2) walloped the Merrimack Warriors (2-3) 17-1 in the first Friday night action of the 2022 season at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.
In a night where every Texas Tech starter booked a hit and crossed the plate against Merrimack, Morris held the Warriors scoreless through five giving up a hit to the second batter of the game, another with one out in the fifth, and his final to lead off the sixth. Merrimack also fielded baserunners on Morris’s only walk coming in the fifth, and a leadoff hit batsman in the second. Overall it was the most solid outing of the season for the transfer from Colorado Mesa, who now has a 24 to 7 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Those 24 fanned batters place him among the best in NCAA Division 1 baseball.
“It’s definitely nice when the bats are there and they were definitely hitting the ball well,” said Morris. “It allows me to settle in a little more and kind of relax.”
Andrew Devine entered in relief but struggled to locate, walking three in a row, including an RBI walk for Merrimack’s only run of the game. Brandon Beckel followed with two perfect innings and with 2 strikeouts and Kyle Robinson followed with one perfect inning and a strikeout to close it out. Together, the Red Raiders’ pitching staff combined for 12 strikeouts to 4 walks on the day.
Morris and Beckel both executed nice defensive plays as well. Morris fielded a lightly chopped ball near the third-base line and fired a bullet to Cole Stilwell at first base for the out. The throw was low but Stilwell, a catcher by trade, dug it out nicely. Beckel barehanded a comeback ground ball off of the bounce and tossed it to first for the out, wowing the crowd that remained in a game that was well in hand in the seventh inning.
Texas Tech had their most prolific game of the season at the plate with 16 hits on the day. Multiple Red Raiders booked multi-hit days, including Zac Vooletich, who got this first start in left field and remained there for the duration of the game. The Navarro College product, who went 2-5 with 5RBIs, also hit one of Tech’s two extra-base hits of the evening, a three-RBI double to center field that extended Tech’s lead to 5-0.
“Zac’s been working really hard and just felt like it was time to get him in there and get him an opportunity,” said Head Coach Tim Tadlock. “He rolls into the ballpark and expects to put together good at-bats and he did that for the most part today.”
Jace Jung started the day with back-to-back flyouts to left field, but then booked back-to-back-to-back base knocks and scored a run in the fourth. Kurt Wilson went 2-2 with a pair of singles and a walk and scored on all three trips before heading back to the dugout in favor of Lauden Brooks. Hudson White, who scuffled early in the season, went 2-4 and batted in a run before giving way to Trevor Conley in the seventh inning.
Merrimack pitching struggled mightily with the live bats of the Red Raiders. Starter Timmy Kalantzakos gave up 9 hits and 10 runs and issued 4 of the Warriors’ 11 walks. Strikes came at a premium on Friday as the team from the Northeast Conference threw 68 strikes out of their 176 pitches, good for 38.6%. By comparison, the Red Raiders’ three most effective pitchers combined for a clip of 61%.
The Red Raider faithful in attendance or watching on ESPN+ saw a plethora of new faces in this one as Cooper Swanson entered in the fifth, Ryan Brome in the sixth, and Drew Reynolds in the seventh, in addition to those mentioned previously. All but Conley and Brooks have made short appearances this season but saw their first lengthy service against Merrimack. Swanson started the first two games in Arlington in center field but made his first appearance since then on Friday night. He owned Tech’s other extra-base hit, a two-RBI double to the left-field corner in the sixth.
Merrimack College hails from North Andover, MA, and competes in the Northeast Conference. They moved up to Division 1 athletics in 2018 and will become full members of their conference in the 2023-2024 season upon completion of the NCAA Division 1 reclassification period. Like Texas Tech, the Warriors are also coached by an alumnus. Brian Murphy, a 2003 graduate and former player, took the helm at his alma mater in the fall to begin building the program he is a product of.
Tech will take on Merrimack in a doubleheader on Saturday starting at 12:00 pm and again 30-45 minutes to follow. Brandon Birdsell and Mason Molina will get those starts respectively for the Red Raiders and both games will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and broadcast on Double T 97.3 FM and The Varsity Network App.
TTU09 box score