WEEKLY THOUGHTS
The Red Raiders took care of business as they should have in their first home series of 2021. Houston Baptist was never going to be able to keep up with Tech offensively or on the mound, but they were an excellent defensive ball club in the field. They took plenty of hits away from Tech with multiple web gems in the book. Overall they weren’t a test so much as an opportunity for Tech pitching to increase their load and hitters to gain confidence and regain their plate discipline.
Head Coach Tim Tadlock mentioned in almost every postgame press conference the level at which the team was separating balls and strikes and picking their pitch.
There’s plenty for Texas Tech to continue working on, but after four routs at home, I’m seeing a team with confidence, mound presence, and the defensive ability we’ve come to expect from Texas Tech Baseball. Players are emerging in new defensive roles and others appear to be at or near 100% health, adding further to an already deep ball club.
The trip to the Shriner’s Hospital for Children College Classic will be telling. The competition provided by Texas State, Sam Houston State, and Texas A&M Corpus Christi isn’t elite, but all are competitive programs with their own skins on the wall.
Did you miss the weekend and midweek action? You can read the recaps of each game to catch up!
Houston Baptist
Recapping the Huskies | Game 1
Recapping the Huskies | Game 2
Recapping the Huskies | Game 3
Texas Southern
Recapping the Tigers | Game 1
A few things about the rankings:
DO THEY ALL MATTER?
No, absolutely not, most of them are worthless and only exist because a baseball/statistics nerd decided to make them. Some are an attempt by various outlets to keep RPI live rather than updated weekly by the NCAA. Many are wholly subjective in the case of those from various news outlets or composites of many rankings affected by outliers. Some also update at odd times, like on Friday.
WHICH ONES ARE MOST IMPORTANT?
There are six rankings in college baseball that are recognized and respected: D1 Baseball, Baseball America, Perfect Game, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, NCBWA, and the USA Today Coaches Poll. In my humble opinion D1 Baseball is the single most reliable source of information at the national level, but the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association rankings are probably the most balanced. Unfortunately, they release rankings on Tuesday afternoons so they are often overlooked.
DOES THAT MEAN I WON’T INCLUDE THEM?
Also, absolutely not. I’m going to include every ranking, RPI, composite, and strength of schedule I can find. It doesn’t matter how “legit” they are, I’m going to put them on the list. I like seeing them change and move fluidly over time. It’s also nice to see that even some of the top recognized lists are subject to knee-jerk reactions.
WHY INCLUDE IT IF IT DOESN’T MATTER?
We count everything in baseball. – Billy Chapel
