Conley & Montgomery Lead the Way to Series Clinching Victory - Red Raider Dugout

Conley & Montgomery Lead the Way to Series Clinching Victory

Baseball coaches old, young, and in between will tell you that momentum is as good as the next day’s pitcher.

Seems that a team’s resilience is also tied to the guy toeing the slab as well.

Texas Tech made both clichés ring true Sunday in a Big 12 Conference series finale against West Virginia at Monongalia County Ballpark.

After absorbing a gut punch on Saturday against West Virginia, Red Raider starting pitcher Mason Montgomery was dazzling to help chase away that bad taste, and Cal Conley’s get-on-my-back performance fueled a big offensive day in a 10-1 victory.

Mason Montgomery supplanted Clayton Beeter as the most recent Red Raider to strike out a dozen batters in a game with his winning performance Sunday. Photo courtesy of Texas Tech Athletics

Tech won the series 2-1 to climb into third place in the Big 12 with a month left in the regular season.

Conley was 4-for-5 with two-run home runs from each side of the plate, the second during a six-run 6th inning when the Red Raiders (26-8, 7-5 Big 12) pounced on a two-out error to inflict all their damage. Dru Baker snapped out of a mini-slump with 3 hits and Jace Jung supplied a key two-run double during the six-run onslaught.

But the star of the day was undoubtedly Montgomery, who delivered his best performance of the season, if not his career. The sophomore southpaw struck out 12 Mountaineers in 6.2 innings – the first five of the game and six hitters twice each.

The only hits WVU managed were an infield popup that dropped when Jung and first baseman Cole Stilwell miscommunicated and Hudson Byorick’s triple two batters later to account for the only run.

How good was Montgomery, along with relievers Chase Hampton and Levi Wells? The Mountaineers (14-16, 5-7 Big 12) put only three men on base all day and went three-up, three-down in 7 of 9 innings. There was a strikeout in every WVU at-bat and two in 5 of the 9.

It didn’t take long for the Red Raiders to stake Montgomery to the lead, which was the first step to curing the hangover of a 6-5 loss in the middle game of the series.

Leadoff man Easton Murrell plopped the second pitch of the game into medium-depth West Virginia center field where Victor Scott charged a little too strongly and the ball hopped over his head for a turf-friendly triple. Baker – elevated to the two-hole after going 0-for-9 in his first two games back from a hamstring injury – pumped the first offering he got from Ben Hampton to center field for a sacrifice fly and a 1-0 lead.

Three innings later, Conley produced his second hit to start an inning in as many trips when he thumped a double to left-center field. Braxton Fulford’s fly ball to center field moved Conley up 90 feet and he scooted home on Cody Masters’ grounder to first base for a 2-0 advantage.

Baker supplied Tech’s fourth leadoff hit in the first 5 frames when he stroked a single to left field. Ben Hampton got two fly-ball outs, but tried to sneak a fastball past Conley, who turned the pitch around and sent a two-run rocket over the left-field fence for a 4-1 cushion.

Cal Conley

After surrendering the run in the 4th, Montgomery shot down the Mountaineers after Conley’s first bomb, getting them 1-2-3 with a pair of Ks.

Meanwhile, closing out the 6th inning was a major problem for Hampton and WVU, and the Red Raiders pounced. Parker Kelly walked after collecting hits in his first two at-bats and Hampton extended the inning when a pitch got away and ricocheted off Murrell’s helmet.

Mountaineer reliever Madison Jeffrey came on and induced what should’ve been an inning-ending chopper to freshman shortstop Mikey Kluska, but he allowed the ball to play him, and it skipped into shallow left-center field for the error that unleashed the flood gates for Texas Tech.

Kelly scored on that play, Jung smoked an opposite-field double that clanged off the fence to score two more runs, Cole Stilwell laced an RBI two-bagger to left, and Conley added the exclamation point when he pumped a first-pitch two-run bomb to right field.

In the span of five pitches, a 4-1 lead ballooned to 10-1 and all the remaining drama centered on how long Montgomery would go and how many strikeouts he could rack up.

Montgomery was still crisp for another 1.2 innings before he issued his only walk, which ended his day at 105 pitches. Chase Hampton struck out Vince Ippoliti to end the 7th, logged a perfect 8th with another K and Wells finished off with 2 strikeouts and a 1-2-3 9th frame. The 16 combined strikeouts were the most for the Red Raiders this season.

Up next for Texas Tech: Four games against Big 12 foes starting Tuesday night at Hodgetown Stadium in Amarillo when the Red Raiders tangle with Oklahoma (19-16) in a non-conference game. Baylor (24-12, 5-7 Big 12) comes to Lubbock next weekend.

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