ARLINGTON – Early impressions were a good thing for No. 4/4-ranked Texas Tech on Saturday in the 2021 season opener against Arkansas at Globe Life Park.
Once the Red Raiders and No. 8/8 Razorbacks got their offenses unpacked, though, the bad outweighed the good – especially for four of the six relievers who logged time on the mound for Texas Tech.
Arkansas staged the final rally in a game full of them to climb past the Red Raiders 13-9 to end the first day of the State Farm College Baseball Showdown.
The Razorbacks scored 5 runs in the top of the 9th inning against Tech reliever Andrew Devine, and as was the case most of the night, the Hogs got plenty of help.
Jalen Battles tied the game with an RBI single – Arkansas’ third hit of the frame – but the go-ahead runs came on a passed ball, a two-out wild pitch then Braydon Webb’s two-run base knock on the eighth pitch of the at-bat.
Texas Tech (0-1) had pounced back in front 9-8 in the bottom of the 7th inning when Cole Stilwell and Easton Murrell walked to open the frame and Braxton Fulford smashed a three-run home run to left field off of Razorback reliever Elijah Trest.
That was the third inning in a row when the Red Raiders regained the upper hand, but the bats went quiet after Fulford’s bomb and the one-run advantage wasn’t enough as the pitching staff sputtered and coughed with the game on the line.
Neither team scored in the opening 4 innings, with Texas Tech newcomer Patrick Montverde and Arkansas’ Zebulon Vermillion locked up in an early-season abbreviated duel.
Making his first Division I start, Monteverde might have been the brightest spot of the night for the Red Raiders: He surrendered only 1 hit and struck out 5 in his 4-inning stint.
Arkansas (1-0) inched in front 1-0 in the 5th inning and it could’ve been worse. Reliever Brandon Birdsell walked three of the six batters he faced with an infield single mixed in. The third walk forced in the run before Tech freshman Levi Wells entered to record the third out.
“I would say Birdsell executed pitches to the first hitter,” said Texas Tech Head Coach Tim Tadlock, “and you saw ’99’ up on the board, and I think it became about throwing hard at that point. It’s totally natural for that to happen. Guys have got to stay within themselves, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in Brandon.”
Birdsell’s struggles were a harbinger for the rest of the night. The Red Raider bullpen issued 9 bases on balls, hit one batter, uncorked 5 wild pitches and was tagged with a bases-loaded balk. Two runs came on one wild pitch when Fulford’s throw back to Ryan Sublette was off the mark to allow the runner from second base to scamper around.
“The guys were competing,” explained Tadlock. “Execution wasn’t great. Timing wasn’t great. But all those guys we ran out there, we’ve got a lot of confidence in them. We really like everybody’s presence who went to the mound. But they’ve had two outings, pretty much, against hitters in games this spring. Maybe three. And it’s been two weeks since they had one.”
Six of the Razorbacks’ runs were not the result of hits, although they did collect 11 of those.
“It was opening day, and a lot of crazy things usually happen on opening day,” said Tadlock. “Really proud of the guys’ effort. They did everything they could to play nine innings. Obviously, there’s some fundamental things you’d like to have back. Sloppy baseball game, really.”
But the Red Raiders did plenty with their sticks to win, including an impressive 5-run outburst prior to Fulford’s one big swing.
Down 1-0 after Wells extinguished the Arkansas threat in the top of half of the 5th, Texas Tech’s bats came alive when 10 hitters went to the plate and five produced hits. Cal Conley generated the first key swing with a two-run single, Dylan Neuse chased in another run and Jase Jung capped a 5-run surge with another base hit.
When Tech struggled was with two outs – just one hit in 10 chances – and that prevented the Red Raiders from seizing full advantage of the 10 free bases the Hogs offered up (7 walks, 3 hit batters).
Tech leadoff man Dru Baker and Conley each produced a pair of hits to help the top third of the batting order finish 5-for-13 with 2 runs and 4 RBIs. But the 4-9 spots were a collective 4-for-22.
In as stacked a season-opening tournament as there is in the country this season, the Red Raiders don’t have long to stew after the 4-hour, 18-minute marathon that ended at 12:39 a.m. They need to shift their attention to a meeting with No. 6/5 Ole Miss at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Arkansas 13, Texas Tech 9