Red Raiders earn first Shriners sweep in thrilling fashion.
HOUSTON – It’s never exactly how you draw it up, and while the Red Raiders didn’t lave the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic with any run-rule victories, they fought from behind in two of three contests to return to Lubbock with a 8-3 record and an 8-game win streak on the books.
Recapping the Bobcats | Game 1
Recapping the Bearkats | Game 2
In the morning offering on Sunday, Tech faced the Texas A&M – Corpus Christi Islanders and sent the lefty from Leander, Mason Montgomery, to the mound. Montgomery was impressive in his third start of 2021 and the Red Raiders needed him to be as once again, Tech found themselves in a pitcher’s duel in Space City.
The Islanders’ starting pitcher, Thomas Hayden, was better than his final stat line demonstrates as he tossed a 2-hitter against the Red Raiders through 6.2 innings. Outside of the two hits, neither of which made it past first base, Hayden walked two and plunked one Tech batsman. However, it was none of these baserunners who ultimately scored.
Leading off the third inning, Parker Kelly reached on an error in center field as Tristan Welch misplayed a can of corn with the roof open at Minute Maid Park and advanced to second base as he bobbled the pick up as well. Kelly swiped third base on a wild pitch and made his way home unearned on a passed ball lost to the backstop by catcher Justin Taylor. This evened the score at 1 apiece as Islander right fielder Itchy Burts clouted a two-out homerun beyond the reach of Easton Murrell into the right field bleachers in the second inning for the early lead.
The game hung at 1-1 as both starting pitchers traded blows fanning one batter after another. Montgomery retired Islander batters in order three of his six innings of work and racked up 9 strikeouts on the day. He issued one walk in what was an inconsistent, but generally pitcher-friendly, strike zone and gave up only the lone homerun. Hayden, who was less efficient than Montgomery but no less effective, retired Red Raider batters in order only twice, and stayed into the seventh inning as he moved beyond 100 pitches.
“I think he [Hayden] commanded the fastball, I thought he had a really good plan,” said Head Coach Tim Tadlock. “What I mean by that is he mixed when he needed to mix. He was an aggressive kid, and he hit the mit a lot and benefited from that. He was ahead in the count quite a bit. Tip your hat to him, he had good stuff.”
Hayden opened the seventh inning with his 10th strikeout of the day, but followed with a Kurt Wilson single to left field and plunked Cody Masters to deal with two aboard. He received a mound visit from TAMUCC Head Coach Scott Malone and talked him into leaving him in – it was a poor decision. Following strikeout number 11 for Hayden, he walked Dru Baker and was pulled with the bases loaded and two outs, and one of the most effective left-handed hitters in the Big 12 headed to the plate.
Jace Jung feasted on freshman JT Moeller smoking a bases-clearing go-ahead double off of the left field wall. Jung only notched one hit a game over the weekend in Houston, but he found his way to base on five occasions and tallied 4 RBI as well. The Red Raiders put together two more hits in the following frame but headed to the ninth with a 4-1 advantage.
Connor Queen pitched two scoreless relief innings despite giving up a hit and 2 walks. Freshman Drew Woodcox, getting the start at first base, robbed Itchy Burts of an extra-base-hit down the right field line to end the frame. In the eighth inning, after a leadoff walk and a bunt single, Queen struck out the side to end the potential rally. That was the second time the Red Raider defense robbed Burts of an opportunity. The first, following a leadoff single in the fifth inning, Steven Rivera hit a one out soft liner to Cal Conley, who channeled Derek Jeter with the on-target turnaround jump throw to Woodcox to catch Burts in no-mans land and turner a lineout into another non-traditional double play for the Red Raiders.
It was the ninth inning, however, that got the blood pumping for Red Raider faithful. Brendan Girton game in to close for Queen, but he struggled early giving up back-to-back singles. He followed with a strikeout but gave up the third hit of the day to Burts, this one with an RBI attached, closing the gap to 2 runs. Girton was pulled after he loaded with base with a hit batsman and Ryan Sublette made his way to the mound with a long trot from the bullpen.
Sublette, making his third appearance for the season, is well-known to Red Raider fans as a fireballer with the potential for extreme velocity and a hope to become a regular closer in 2021. Sublette worked an RBI groundout to first base as Tech conceded a run to get the second out of the frame. He walked the nine-hole batter however and it was high drama in Houston. Braxton Fulford‘s backstop performance can’t be ignored as he picked a 58-footer from Sublette that held the tying run at third base in the late at bats. At the end it was Conley that was there to call game as he notched his second web-gem of the day, laying out full extension to the glove side to snag a lineout to end it with a 4-3 Red Raider victory.
“I thought the challenge of facing three teams is unique, it’s always unique, your preparation, your turnaround time,” explained Tadlock. “I’m going to say we faced each team’s best guy.
“I thought the guys again battled…there wasn’t a whole lot of letup there. You played some good close baseball, I mean those are the games you love to be a part of.”
Texas Tech will return to Lubbock for a 12-game home stand starting with a midweek series hosting the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Tuesday and Wednesday before a four-game weekend hosting the potential Big East champion UCONN Huskies. According to Tadlock, Micah Dallas and Chase Hampton will once again get the midweek starts for the Red Raiders.
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