Molina Shoves and Bats Get Hot in Series Opener

Molina Shoves and Bats Get Hot in Series Opener

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Mason Molina (4-2) had a career start against the Michigan Wolverines in the Shriners for Children’s College Classic in Houston, booking 11 strikeouts that day. But March 4 feels like a lifetime ago and he had not booked another six-inning appearance in the six starts since, with a season-low coming last Friday in Norman lasting 2 2/3 innings. But Friday night against Baylor, Molina set new career marks with 7.0 innings pitched and a dozen strikeouts in 106 pitches.

#16 Texas Tech (28-12, 7-6) rolled to a 10-1 victory over the Baylor Bears (14-24, 5-11) Friday night in front of a sellout crowd at Dan Law Field.

In the 10th start of his sophomore campaign, Molina faced only three batters over the minimum allowing two-out singles in the first and seventh innings and a leadoff walk in the third. Otherwise, he was perfect and at one point retired 14 Bears batters in order.

Often even in a strong outing, Molina is critical of his performance. But after Friday’s game, even he couldn’t find much to fault.

“I had a walk,” deadpanned Molina to laughter from the media. “No man I mean it felt good today. There wasn’t really much that wasn’t working, curveball maybe not, but I felt pretty proud of the way I filled it up with what I had and kept them off balance.”

Prior to the season, Molina explained to the media that he enjoys analytics and seeing data like spin rate to learn about his pitching, but he also has a tendency to want to tinker with his pitching even when things are working.

“Yeah, Gardner gets onto me with that a little bit. I do good and I try to change stuff and he’s just like ‘stop that,'” explained Molina. “If something’s working let’s just keep building on it and not trying to change things. Just get in a rhythm, get comfortable, and start something special.”

Andrew Devine took the bump for Molina in the eighth and ninth and surrendered only one hit. He retired the side in order with a strikeout and a defensive assist from Dillon Carter who returned to the lineup for the first time since breaking his wrist chasting down a fly ball against Iowa on March 12. Baylor catcher Harrison Caley sent a long fly ball to right-center field that seemed bound for the wall and a double, but Carter hustled for it and tracked it down over his shoulder to glove the out.

Devine surrendered a leadoff home run in the ninth, the only run of the game for the Bears, but he responded by retiring Baylor in order to follow and booked his second strikeout of the evening to end the game against a pinch-hitter.

Offensively the fireworks came early and often for Tech. Ty Coleman turned in a four-hit day, his third as a Red Raider and second of the season. He started with a solo home run, a one-out shot in the first to give Tech the early lead. That was Coleman’s fourth homer of the season and his third of the week after firing two bombs against Grand Canyon on Tuesday.

Coleman wasn’t done by a long shot. In the third inning, he sent a two-out double into right-center field and was brought home immediately after by a Gage Harrelson RBI single. In the six-run fourth frame, he pounded his second double of the day to the same location, this time scoring Nolen Hester who’d reached on a one-out single. Ultimately, Coleman crossed the plate four times and finished the day a triple shy of the cycle.

Hester’s single extended his team-leading reached-base streak to 27 games.

Harrelson turned in his team-leading 22nd multi-hit game with three singles and contributed his 13th multi-RBI game. Kevin Bazzell also continued his hot streak with his nation-leading 21st double. The redshirt freshman is second on the team with both 43 RBIs and 26 extra-base hits.

Tracer Lopez, who in addition to continuing to turn in excellent defensive play at shortstop (Lopez was recently named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, presented annually to the nation’s best shortstop by the College Baseball Foundation), also provided the most productive swing of the day. Lopez pounded a one-out three-run bomb in the fourth to break the game open extending Tech’s lead at the time to five runs.

Austin Green also turned in a multi-hit day, his first since March 31 against TCU. He led off the fourth inning with a single up the middle and turned in another single in the frame when Tech batted around, this time plating a run. His third single came in the eighth, Tech’s last hit of the game.

“Oh I’m sure he’s plenty happy, all these guys chase hits and he’s hit some balls hard,” said Head Coach Tim Tadlock about Green. “He had a little hamstring deal he fought. You know obviously, if your legs aren’t working it affects something with hitting. It’s good to see him put some good at-bats together because he’s a tough out most days.”

The Red Raiders’ final run was a big one as Gavin Kash pounded his 20th home run of the season. It was a moonshot off of the scoreboard and an exclamation mark on a game that Tech dominated both sides of from the outset.

Kash becomes the sixth Texas Tech player all-time to hit 20 home runs in a season, he currently leads the Big 12 and is currently in a two-way tie for second in the country. He is also currently first in the country in RBIs with 69.

With highs in the 40s and significant rain chances forecast Sunday, the Red Raiders and Bears will meet Saturday in a newly-scheduled doubleheader that will begin at Noon with the second game following approximately 45 minutes after the first concludes. Both games will be available on ESPN+ with the radio broadcast available on Double T 97.3 FM in Lubbock and on The Varsity App.

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