Austin Becker pitched three strong innings in his first start since a 1/3 of an inning outing against Rice on March 8, 2020. The Vanderbilt transfer earned the win as the most effective pitcher of the day allowing only 1 hit and fanning five Merrimack batters. Tech (10-2) won the day 12-4 to complete the sweep of Merrimack College, ultimately outscoring the Warriors 70-12 over the four-game stand.
“It was a good day for me. Starting out it was a little nerve-wracking being out there for the first time in two years,” said Becker. “I had it under control and I felt good going into it. The main thing was just filling up the zone and having my stuff work the way it did and trying to get guys out.”
Becker underwent Tommy John surgery on July 28, 2020 and has been moving forward and rehabilitating over time. While the procedure is now commonplace for pitchers, and “getting it out of the way” can even be viewed as beneficial when considering MLB Draft status, it is still a long road back to recovery both mentally and physically.
“It’s definitely tough to go through rehab every day.,” explained Becker. “There were days I was like ‘this is just dragging on’ getting ready to get back out there and pitch. It was definitely a process that I think helped me just grow mentally and my body physically, just get back in shape and getting bigger and stronger.”
Head Coach Tim Tadlock was complimentary of the first start from Becker. “I was really proud of Austin. For his first start coming off everything he’s been through, thought he commanded two pitches really good, I thought he showed a third pitch, thought the fastball was good, thought it had good late life to it, and the breaking ball’s always been good.”
Texas Tech booked 13 hits Sunday in what was the closest and most competitive game of the series so far. A cold and blustery start at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park saw the Red Raiders head into the bottom of the fifth inning with a narrow 3-2 lead, but the offense once again answered the call when needed.
Zac Vooletich got Tech started in the fifth with a leadoff walk, his first of two free passes. He also booked an RBI double in the first that scored Tech’s first run of the day. Jace Jung followed with a single to right field and ended up a home run shy of the cycle after hitting a triple to the center-field wall in the third. Later in the fifth, it was Jung’s two-RBI double that wrapped up scoring in the long inning. Following the Jung single was an RBI single from Stilwell to score Vooletich and a bunt single by Kurt Wilson.
Owen Washburn, the Gatorade Player of the Year out of Wisconsin as a high school senior, then stepped in and mashed a three-run tater over the Tech bullpen in right field for the second home run of his collegiate career. Dalton Porter then pounded his third hit of the day over the right-field wall for a solo shot. Porter, like Jung, was a hit shy of the cycle. In addition to his home run he had a double in the second inning and a single in the fourth.
Parker Kelly got aboard with a single and came around to score on Jung’s aforementioned double as the final run of the fifth that saw Tech turn a 3-2 advantage into a 10-2 blowout. Kelly, who hit two grand slams in a three-home run game on the front end of the doubleheader Saturday, followed that performance with a 3-5 showing in the evening matchup. He was 1-2 on Sunday with two runs, but adding in two walks, an HBP, and mixing in a stolen base for good measure, Kelly reached safely on four of five plate appearances. After hitting at a .533 clip in the Merrimack series, he is now batting .371 on the season, joining Jung (.381), Washburn (.372), and Wilson (.326) as the starters batting over .300 at this point.
“He’s sought help ever since he’s been here, he’s made adjustments every year he’s been here, and you might not have seen the results like in the batting average and things, but he’s always been a guy with a lot of aptitude. He’s been able to apply what you want him to do,” said Tadlock of Kelly. “He’s always had power too, there is some thunder between the elbows and the fingertips for sure, the ball comes off the bat a little different when he does square it up. You’re also not going to get a better guy. He’s just a high-character baseball player and again, it’s just kind of all coming together and it’s kind of neat when you really think about it. Without the COVID year, his college career is over. Sometimes it’s just the timing of it.”
Jung, who entered the weekend hitting .208 after dealing with similar early-season issues his brother Josh experienced when so much attention was placed on him, hit .611 against the Warriors and slugged .944 with three extra-base hits.
“Just being more confident in the box, getting the right pitch to put a good swing on, just confidence over time,” explained Jung about what has changed for him.
He also commented on his brother Josh being a resource for him after a similar start in 2019, “The past couple weeks we’ve texted a lot, he was like ‘hey I went through the same thing, I was right where you were coming into this week. You’re going to get out of it, you’ve just gotta keep swinging and hitting the ball hard, can’t think about results right now,'” said Jung.
The Red Raiders now begin a string of five-game weeks as they hit the road to take on the defending NCAA Champion Mississippi State Bulldogs in Biloxi, MS at the home of the Biloxi Shuckers, a ballpark that former Red Raiders Gabe Holt and Taylor Floyd currently call home. The games are scheduled at 6:00 pm and 5:00 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively and are scheduled to be streamed live on SEC Network+ with radio available on 97.3 FM and The Varsity Network App.
TTU12 box score