Red Raiders Dive Bomb the Falcons of Air Force

Red Raiders Dive Bomb the Falcons of Air Force

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Game 1

Texas Tech (10-0) notched their tenth win of the season as they continue their best start since 2018, taking down the Air Force Falcons (2-7) in a two-game midweek series that ends the home stand for the Red Raiders. After starting the season with 10 in a row at home, they’ll head to Minute Maid Park in Houston to play in the Shriner’s College Baseball Classic this weekend.

Tuesday’s offering was a tight one that saw Tech strike first, when Nolen Hester walked to lead off the game and Kevin Bazzell and Austin Green teamed up to hit him home. Tech plated two more on one Hudson White swing that left the yard in the second scoring Gavin Kash as well. But the Falcons, who plated three in the top of the second with two home runs, made it close all the way through. The Red Raiders added three in the sixth and three more over the next two innings to put it away.

While the score was close, the game never felt in doubt for the Red Raiders, the bigger storyline surrounded starting pitcher Bo Blessie. After a late scratch attributed to soreness held him out of starting the Sunday finale against Western Illinois, Blessie appeared to be struggling with his command from the outset Tuesday. He faced four hitters and recorded one out in 18 pitches.

Head Coach Tim Tadlock spoke to Blessie’s health after the game.

“He has a history of having some soreness in the same spot and it just reared its head again. And so he felt like he needed to get out of there and obviously we’re going to do what’s best for him.

I’m sure he’ll be shut down for a while. Last spring when this happened, you could use him on occasion, but then you couldn’t use him for a while, kind of like we did opening weekend. So it’ll be up to him to figure out a way, once it’s not hurting and there’s no discomfort, where you can move the arm and throw with no pain.”

Josh Sanders entered in a tough situation with bases loaded and one out, he worked a grounder from RF Chase Spencer that the middle infield turned into a double play to exit the inning. Sanders scuffled a bit in the second giving up a solo home run, single, and home run. But while Dillon Carter cooled at the plate after an extremely hot weekend, his defense didn’t slow down a bit and he ended the Air Force rally with some acrobatics.

After Sanders’ 1 2/3 innings of work, Zach Erdman, Ethan Coombes, Brandon Beckel, and Damian Bravo combined for seven innings of one-run baseball, booking 9 strikeouts between them.

Perhaps most impressive was Beckel, who saw 23 2/3 innings of work spread over 18 appearances in 2022, still has a perfect ERA after 6 2/3 in three appearances. He entered in the seventh inning with no outs and two men aboard and he shut down the Falcons’ offense retiring all six hitters he faced in order and striking out four.

Bravo slammed the door with a three-up three-down inning as well, once again in a closer role that he appears more than ready to handle.

Offensively the Red Raiders were outhit by Air Force nine hits to seven, but they set the table far better with 17 Texas Tech hitters reaching safely as opposed to only 10 Falcons. Gage Harrelson turned in another solid performance with his first collegiate triple, as well as his team-leading seventh multi-hit game. Kevin Bazzell also hit twice, both doubles, and plated two runs in the process, he is near the top of the country in doubles so far this season.

The Wednesday offering was a wildly different affair.

Game 2

Jacob Rogers got the start on the mound for the Red Raiders, the first of his collegiate career, and held Air Force to only two hits and one run over three innings of work, ultimately earning the win. He practically gave way to everyone in the bullpen as seven relievers were used by the Red Raiders. Ultimately they held Air Force to five runs on eight hits, which was more than enough with Tech’s offensive explosion of 18 runs on 19 hits.

Bazzell, Drew Woodcox, Kash, and Tracer Lopez all hit home runs, combining for six RBIs on the dingers alone. Woodcox and Kash were both in the hunt for the seventh cycle in Texas Tech history, and the first since Josh Jung did it in 2018 against New Mexico. Woodcox would finish the day a double shy and Kash ended short by a triple.

Between pitching changes, defensive substitutions, and pinch hitters – 43 players appeared in this game. There were 22 who hit the field for Texas Tech and 21 for the Falcons, and the visitors were only one shy due to pitching a player from the field.

While the offensive explosion was exceptional, it was the continued strength of the Red Raider defense that was most impressive. Texas Tech led the nation in double plays turned coming out of the weekend with 14. They turned three more against Air Force, one in the Tuesday game and two more on Wednesday, including the one that ended the game.

The Red Raiders booted three errors across the two games but ultimately were far too much for the Falcons to handle. They’ll head to Minute Maid Park this weekend to take on Rice, Michigan, and Texas A&M in the Shriner’s Children’s College Classic. That game will be broadcast on The Varsity App and will be available on AT&T SportsNet Southwest, which is available to most DirectTV, AT&T UVerse, and fuboTV subscribers. The game can also be streamed free of charge from the Astros website.

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