Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic
Game 1
Texas Tech vs. Texas State
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Minute Maid Park | Houston
RECORDS: Texas Tech 5-3, Texas State 4-6
LAST TIME OUT: The Red Raiders stretched their winning streak to five games by pummeling Texas Southern 15-0 in 7 innings to cap a two-game mid-week sweep. The Bobcats fell at home to Texas, 10-3 on Wednesday.
LAST MEETING/SERIES: Texas Tech leads 7-6 after claiming an 8-5 decision in the last matchup in 2011. The Bobcats had reeled off four wins in a row before that with sporadic meetings between 2003-10.
RANKINGS: Texas Tech – No. 10 DIBaseball.com, No. 11 USA Today (coaches) | Rankings Roundup
RADIO: 97.3-FM | TuneIn Radio App
TV: AT&T SportsNet SW (DirectTV channel 674, U-Verse channels 758/1758)
LIVESTREAM: Astros.com/MLB.com & MLB app/AT&T Sports Net app
INTERNET: RedRaiderDugout.com
TWITTER: @RandyRosetta | @RedRaiderDugout | @KeithBPatrick
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Texas Tech – RH Brandon Birdsell (1-0, 5 IP, 7.20 ERA, 4 SO/4 BB, .316 opponent BA)
Texas State – RH Zachary Leigh (0-1, 8 IP, 4.50 ERA, 12 SO/7 BB, .241 opponent BA)
LINEUP LEADERS
Texas Tech
2B Jace Jung (.464/.590/1.036, 12 R, 1 2B, 5 HR, 15 RBIs, 10 BB)
SS Cal Conley (.395/.410/.632, 8 R, 3 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBIs)
LF Dru Baker (.382/.447.412, 12 R, 1 2B, 3 RBIs, 3-3 SB)
1B/C Nate Rombach (.357/.455/.821, 9 R, 4 2B, 3 HR, 11 RBIs)
Texas State
3B Justin Thompson (.371/.421/.486, 3 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 13 RBIs)
LF/DH Will Hollis (.286/.390/.400, 5 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBIs)
2B Jaxon Williams (.233/.378/.233, 4 R, 5 RBIs)
OUT OF THE BULLPEN
Texas Tech
RH Brendan Girton (0-0, 5.1 IP, 1.69 ERA, 7 SO/1 BB, .250 BAA)
RH Connor Queen (0-0, 3 IP, 3.00 ERA, 2 SO/0 BB, .273 BAA)
RH Hayde Key (0-0, 2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 SO/1BB, .143 BAA)
Texas State
RH Matthew Nicholas (0-0, 3.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 4 SO/2 BB, .083 BAA)
RH Otto Wofford (1-0, 4.2 IP, 1.93 ERA, 3 SO/1BB, .133 BAA)
LH Austin Smith (2-1, 8 IP, 3.38 ERA, 8 SO/2 BB, .219 BAA)
UP NEXT
Texas Tech vs. Sam Houston State, 3 p.m. Saturday
Texas Tech vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 11 a.m. Sunday
AROUND THE HORN
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- The Red Raiders are back at Minute Maid park for the fourth time in eight years and looking to extend the success they had on their last trip. In 2017, Texas Tech bounced back from a loss to Texas A&M in the first game to top 8th-ranked Ole Miss 5-1 and 2nd-ranked LSU 5-4. Also of note: The Red Raiders played in Houston in their first two College World Series seasons (2014, 2016)
- This will be the first in this event that Texas Tech will not meet at least one ranked opponent.
- Justin Thompson is the Bobcats’ lone hitter north of .300 at .371 and he has accounted for 13 of his team’s 46 RBIs. The Bobcats have produced only 3 home runs in 325 at-bats and arrived in Houston with a .231 team batting average with 68 strikeouts compared to 75 hits.
- Pitching has been solid for Texas State, with 91 strikeouts in 88 innings. Texas Tech faces the Bobcats’ strikeout leader – Zachary Leigh has 12 in 8 innings of work.
- The Red Raiders’ pitching staff has sharpened up in the walks department since a rough beginning. Apart from the series opener against Texas Southern when Texas Tech issued 9 free passes, Red Raider pitchers have walked four or fewer in five of the last seven games.
- Only 9 of opponents’ 50 hits have gone for extra bases: 5 doubles, 1 triple and 3 home runs.
- Texas Tech’s offense has generated double-digit hit totals in each game of its current five-game winning streak. Nine of their 70 hits in that span have left the ballpark and 18 have been doubles.
