Texas Tech took down the North Carolina Tar Heels 7-2 Saturday night at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park riding the left arm of Patrick Monteverde, the right arm of Ryan Sublette, and the bats of Jace Jung and Kurt Wilson to the victory.
Tim Tadlock has now coached the Red Raiders in 6 NCAA Regionals, and he is 12-0 in the first two games of those postseason series.
UNC, who took down two-seed UCLA in the night game on Friday behind ace Austin Love, opted to use an opener against the Red Raiders in the absence of another traditional starter. Gage Gillian got the nod, his first of the season, and the Red Raiders jumped on him early for two hits and three runs over his two innings of work.
Dru Baker got things rolling in the right direction with a leadoff double to start the game and Jace Jung gave him an easy trot back to the plate with a two-run shot over the right field fence for 2-0 lead for Tech in the first. Jung, who has hit 21 home runs in 2021, took sole possession of third place in the Tech record book for home runs in a season.
North Carolina answered with a run in the bottom of the frame and tied the ballgame on an RBI double by SS Danny Serretti down the left field line in the third. However, Texas Tech starter Patrick Monteverde, who finished the day with 7 strikeouts, continued to dominate UNC hitters with his usual mix of well-placed pitches and fiery resolve on the mound.
“My mom and dad were in the stands tonight and I found them to make eye contact. I usually just pick one person out in the crowd to look at after the innings and them being there really fired me up,” said Monteverde about the atmosphere in the ballpark.
The atmosphere was definitely part of the winning equation for the Red Raiders as 4,737 fans silenced the rowdy UNC faithful with Raider Power chants ringing through campus. Fans were on their feet for the final out of multiple innings and seemed poised on the edge of their seats ready for the opportunity to fire up as the Red Raiders pushed forward.
Kurt Wilson was responsible for much of that crowd energy. His comeback tour continued to run full steam ahead as he started once again in center field and tacked on another run for Tech in the seventh with an opposite-field home run off the right field foul pole to push the score to 4-2. Wilson was the big bopper in Tech’s biggest offensive inning when, following a two-out Nate Rombach RBI walk, he smoked a screaming line drive off of the glove of Serretti to score two more for the final 7-2 advantage.
“When he broke the thumb and got the cast on it, we really didn’t think we were getting him back to swing the bat. Everything just healed up the right way…He’s been eager to get a bat in his hand,” explained Tadlock.
Fireworks aside, Red Raider pitching was in full postseason form as Monteverde and Sublette, who entered in relief in the sixth, combined for six scoreless innings and 15 total strikeouts. The fireballing right-hander bumped 98 mph on the stadium radar gun while also working the offspeed and breaking pitches into the low 80s in his 3.2 innings of work. Sublette’s 8 strikeouts Saturday night were a career high and he earned the praise of UNC Head Coach Scott Forbes.
“I really thought Sublette was outstanding, his stuff was electric. We never could really find the barrel against him even though the game was close,” said Forbes. “He’s got two legitimate offspeed pitches, and they equalize righties and lefties. The changeup was hard on our lefties. You know you have a guy that’s throwing 94-97 [mph], you gotta be on time for that fastball and he throws that nasty changeup you’re not going to have much success. Unless he makes mistakes, and he didn’t make many. So same thing against right-handers, you had that nasty slider and that’s a tough guy to score runs off of.”
Braxton Fulford once again turned in a Mr. Clutch performance with a big swing for the Red Raiders in the fifth inning in a go-ahead two-out RBI double down the left field line scoring Dru Baker. The speedy outfielder turned on the jets coming from first base and rounding third with the intent of testing the arm of left-fielder Angel Zarate. He slid across the plate beating the play with deceptive ease made possible by blazing speed.
Fulford’s bat wasn’t the only strength he brought to the game as he was a solid backstop for two very different pitchers and showed heads up baserunning against the shift earning an extra 90 feet capitalizing on a UNC miscue.
“He just keeps evolving, keeps working, keeps getting stronger. He’s a fun kid to coach and been a lot of fun to watch,” said Tadlock.
UCLA and UNC will meet in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Sunday at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. The Red Raiders will face the winner of that contest at 6 p.m. for the chance to sweep the Lubbock Regional. LHP Mason Montgomery will get the start on the mound for Tech in the Sunday matchup.
G5 – UCLA 12, UNC 2