GAME 2
All eyes were on Parker Kelly at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park in the front end of the Saturday doubleheader when Kelly’s three home runs led Texas Tech (8-2) to a 21-5 rout of the Merrimack Warriors (2-4). He got rolling in the third with a two-out solo shot to left field to give Tech a 5-1 lead and followed in the sixth with a grand slam as part of a nine-run inning by the Red Raiders. Two innings later it was another salami for Kelly as he cemented a line in the Texas Tech record book alongside Grant Little (2018), John Grimes (1984), and Mike Brewley (1975); the Red Raiders with the most RBIs in a game, all at 9.
“I didn’t really know that until just now so, that’s pretty exciting,” said Parker Kelly. “You work your whole life just to keep sticking through things, even when things aren’t going real well and just trust in the plan that the big man has for ya and it’s finally paying off for me, feels really good.”
While familiar with Kelly, many fans may think of him as a strong defensive player pulled in situationally. But Kelly came into 2022 with 68 starts and 247 at-bats in his time as a Red Raider. A career .211 hitter, Kelly exits this game batting .321 on the season with 3HR and 12RBI. It seems safe to say that Kelly’s resurgence offensively only further solidifies his hold on third base.
“He’s definitely worked really hard, really happy for where he is with his swing and with his game,” said Head Coach Tim Tadlock. “He’s spent a lot of time in the cage, put a lot of blood sweat, and tears in there. Really worked at it, it’s really cool to see a guy come out and get some results.”
Jace Jung booked another three-hit day, all singles, with an RBI, 3 walks, and 3 runs as well. Jung reached on all 7 of his plate appearances in this one and has quietly turned his season fortunes around. He’s now batting .351 and has pushed his walk total up to 16. Kurt Wilson and Zac Vooletich booked both of Tech’s extra-base hits that stayed in the yard. Wilson a two-RBI double in the sixth, and Vooletich the same in the seventh.
Offensively the Red Raiders were fueled by 23 free passes issued by Merrimack in the form of 18 walks, 3 hit batsmen, an E3, and a strikeout wild pitch allowing Dillon Carter to reach. Fourteen of those 23 freebies crossed the plate for Texas Tech runs.
Starting pitcher Brandon Birdsell was solid once again, earning his second victory of the season to improve to 2-1. He went 5.0IP, 5H, 1R, 1ER, 1BB, 8K. He improved his ERA to 2.57 and gave way to back-to-back solid outings of a perfect inning by Brendan Girton where he struck out two and needed only nine pitches to retire the three batters he faced, and two scoreless from Shay Hartis.
“I trust my guys, I have confidence in every guy they roll out there. I never worry about them giving up the lead or anything, it’s nice to be able to have that kind of confidence in your own team,” said Birdsell.
He also went on to express his focus on improving week to week.
“Every day it’s working on what you struggled with the previous week, and I can say that’s how it is for most guys. You don’t go in there with no plan. If you go in there with no plan you ain’t gonna get better,” explained Birdsell. “You learn from what you did well and what you did bad the previous week and that’s what every guy here is focusing on. Not with just pitching but offensively, everyone goes into our practices with a plan to get better for the upcoming weekend.”
GAME 3
Following an early game that was punctuated by frustratingly inconsistent pitching by the Warriors (2-5), the second game had a different complexion. Texas Tech (9-2) got truly hot at the plate, as 10 Red Raiders combined to book 20 hits en route to a 20-2 victory.
Texas Tech walked into the fifth inning of the back end of their doubleheader with Merrimack with a 5-1 lead. By the end of the frame, the Red Raiders carried an 18-1 advantage into the sixth including home runs by Jung and Wilson. Jung led off the inning with a solo moonshot to left-center field that rebounded off of the new permanent camera deck. Wilson’s was an awe-inspiring two-run no-doubter over the left-field wall that may have put the International Space Station in jeopardy. The 13-run inning matches the Texas Tech record, a feat they’ve accomplished twice before previously, most recently against Kansas in 2019.
Additionally, Washburn went deep with a two-run shot in the second inning making it back-to-back three home run games for Tech, with six knocks by four hitters.
Wilson was not only impressive hitting the long-ball, he went 4-6, 2B, HR, 5RBIs, 4R in the 20-2 rout. That’s a career-high in RBIs in a game for Wilson – they all came in the fifth inning on the home run and a bases-clearing double.
Washburn added a 3-5, 2B, HR, 3RBIs, BB, 4R day to his already impressive freshman season, he continues to lead all starters with a .385 batting average. Dalton Porter came in relief of Easton Murrell who exited after re-aggravating the hamstring injury and knocked in 3 runs. Kelly may not have gone yard again, but he went 3-5, 2B, 2RBIs, and scored a run. A senior out of Wichita Falls Rider, Kelly entered the weekend batting .250 and heads into the final game against Merrimack College batting .364 and tied with fellow starter Owen Washburn batting .417 with runners in scoring position.
Ty Coleman was once again absent from the lineup, as he has been all weekend. Coleman has been a mainstay at DH and was last week’s Big 12 Player of the Week and Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. Tadlock confirmed to media that like Murrell, he tweaked his hamstring but did not have a timeline for his potential return.
The Red Raiders will play their final game against Merrimack on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1:00 pm at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. It will be streamed live on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with radio broadcast available on Double T 97.3FM and The Varsity Network App.
