Houston Baptist at Texas Tech
WHEN: 2 p.m. Friday | 2 p.m. Saturday | 1 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park
RECORDS: Houston Baptist 1-2, Texas Tech 0-3
LAST MEETING/SERIES: The Red Raiders and Huskies met for the first time last season with Texas Tech notching 5-1 and 24-3 victories for a 2-0 series lead.
RANKINGS: Texas Tech – No. 10 DIBaseball.com, No. 12 Baseball America, No. 10 Collegiate Baseball, No. 13 NCBWA, No. 9 Perfect Game (the USA Today/coaches’ poll did not update this week)
RADIO: Double T 97.3-FM | TuneIn Radio App
TV: Big 12 Now (ESPN+)
INTERNET: RedRaiderDugout.com
TWITTER: @RandyRosetta | @RedRaiderDugout | @KeithBPatrick
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Friday – Texas Tech RH Brandon Birdsell (0-0, 13.50 ERA, .2 IP, 2 SO/3 BB) vs. Houston Baptist RH Tyler Zarella (0-0, 7.20 ERA, 5 IP, 2 SO/4 BB)
Saturday – Texas Tech LH Patrick Monteverde (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 4 IP, 5 SO/2 BB) vs. Houston Baptist RH Jacob Coats (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 5 IP, 3 SO/2 BB)
Sunday – Texas Tech LH Mason Montgomery (0-0, 2.25 ERA, 4 IP, 2 SO/2 BB) vs. Houston Baptist LH Austin Spinney (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 6 IP, 2 SO/2 BB)
OUT OF THE BULLPEN
Texas Tech – Brendan Girton (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3.1 IP, 4 SO/1 BB), Conner Queen (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 IP, 1 SO/0 BB), Hayde Key (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 IP, 2 SO/1 BB)
Houston Baptist – Andrew Reitmeyer (1-0, 2 appearances, 3.00 ERA, 3 IP, 1 SO/2BB), Daxton Tinker (0-1, 2 appearances, 3.38 ERA, 2.2 IP, 4 SO/1 BB), Jordan Powell (0-0, 0.00, 1.1 IP, 2 SO/1 BB)
LINEUP LEADERS
Texas Tech – SS Cal Conley (6-for-15, 1 R, 1 2B, 4 RBIs, 2-2 SB), 3B Kurt Wilson (2-for-6, 2 R, 1 2B, 1-1 SB), LF Dru Baker (3-for-12, 2 R, 2 RBIs, 2-2 SB)
Houston Baptist – SS Sebastian Trinidad (5-for-10, 2 R, 3 RBIs), 3B Nathan Soriano (4-for-11, 1 3B, 4 RBIs), 1B Jake Miller (4-for-12, 4 R)
UP NEXT
Texas Southern at Texas Tech, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday/2 p.m. Wednesday
AROUND THE HORN
- The Red Raiders bring an 11-game home winning streak into their home-opening weekend.
- Despite the 0-3 start for the first time since 1994, Texas Tech has some cause for optimism. All three games went to the 9th inning as one-run affairs against teams ranked 1st, 2nd and 5th in the new DIBaseball.com poll.
- Nate Rombach should be eager to see the HBU pitching staff. In the second game vs. the Huskies last year, he clubbed a three-run home run as part of a 7-RBI day.
- Birdsell is set to make his first DI start in the series opener after a short relief stint last weekend. He logged six starts at San Jacinto Junior College in 2019 with 45 strikeouts and a 2.48 ERA in 29 innings.
- Tech is 36-4 on home opening weekend since 2010.
- Houston Baptist started the season by stunning Rice 8-7 in 10 innings a game featuring Sebastian Trinidad’s game-winning RBI hit, Nathan Soriano’s go-ahead three-run triple in a 5-run 5th inning and a stout relief performance by Andrew Reitmeyer (3 IP with one run allowed).
- The Huskies lost the series finale 1-0, with Sunday starter Austin Spinney logging 6 scoreless frames.
