Texas Tech offense and defense firing on all cylinders in first midweek action.
The place Micah Dallas occupies in the Red Raider pitching rotation is an ongoing conversation among the fans of Texas Tech Baseball. Since excelling in the Friday night starting role as a freshman on the 2019 team that ended their season in the final four in Omaha, Dallas has been a fan favorite. The fiery sophomore from Aubrey, Texas was impressive coming out of the bullpen in 2020 as well, but struggled in his first start against #6 Ole Miss in Arlington in the opening weekend of 2020.
Dallas now has another first under his belt, the first midweek start in his Red Raider career. In five innings of work Dallas racked up 8 strikeouts while walking only two batters. He allowed 2 hits, 3 walks, and hit a batter but held the Tigers, and their 6 baserunners, scoreless. Dallas established his fastball, ticking 91mph often, and commanded his slider well while mixing in the changeup as needed.
“I just wanted to try and be like myself out there,” said Dallas. “Have fun, do what I know I’m able to do, and just be confident in all the work I’ve put in.”
Pitching opposite Dallas was a young right hander from Norman, OK who, on a pitch limit, faced an imposing Texas Tech lineup in his starting debut for the Tigers. Bryson Armstrong, a former JUCO All-American from Northern Oklahoma College, solidified his role in a Tigers rotation that is expected to lead a team facing an extremely difficult road start to compete for another SWAC Championship.
The Red Raiders (4-3) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Texas Southern (0-8). Jace Jung worked a 1-out walk followed by a single to right field by Dylan Neuse. Two batters later, Kurt Wilson knocked a two-out single to right field plating Jung and Neuse and Tech never looked back from there. The breathing room seemed to relax Dallas who dealt with three baserunners in the first inning but didn’t allow more than one an inning the rest of the way.
Dallas explained what an early lead can mean for a pitcher’s mentality. “That’s big time, especially that early on in the game for a pitcher. It kind of let’s you just breathe, you have some leeway, and our hitters are great at that. They help us a lot with that. We don’t have to be too fine with our pitches, we just have to go out there and execute and just trust our stuff, and trust our defense back there. It’s a whole lot easier to do that when you know you have some leeway.”
While the home run and the the 7-run inning will eat up attention, it’s the defensive stars in the scorebook that tell the story. Dallas struggled with a leadoff walk in the first, but Cole Stilwell gunned down right fielder Tyson Thompson at second base. The Rockwall Heath product saw his second start of the season behind the dish, his sixth start at catcher as a Red Raider, and he wasn’t finished at just one web gem.
Stilwell also caught third baseman D’Artagnan Padron stealing and notched another putout, this time he hosed him in a toss to Cal Conley at second. Stillwell would get in on the defensive gems once more following his own miscue. Jordan Vidato advanced on a Stilwell error, but he redeemed himself receiving a frozen rope from Neuse in center field and getting the putout at home to save the shutout in the sixth.
The Red Raiders added a Dru Baker run in the second inning driven in by Jung and Runion, who worked a leadoff walk in the fourth, was hammered home on a Jung sac fly. Runion’s walk came at the hands of relief pitcher Caleb DuBois, who called out a trainer and had himself pulled after only 7 pitches. The offensive explosion however, came in the sixth and seventh innings.
Jung got things started with a a two-run jimmy jack, his third of the season, that scored Baker to make it 6-0. In the seventh, Wilson led off with a double to left field and his was the first of two extra-base-hits and six hits overall in the inning. Tech emerged scoring 7 runs in the seventh and holding a 13-0 lead.
Andrew Devine, Brandon Beckel, and Nick Gorby all saw relief work for the Red Raiders on Tuesday. Devine turned in two scoreless innings earning three strikeouts of his own for a combined 11 fanned batters by Tech pitchers. Beckel (in his Red Raider debut) and Gorby surrendered a run in the eighth and ninth innings respectively.
Offensive leaders on the afternoon were Jung with a career high 4 runs scored and 4 RBI for the second time this season. Neuse also went 4-for-5 in his first career game with multiple doubles. After breaking a slump on Sunday against Houston Baptist, hitting in his 19th at-bat since his previous hit, Neuse has gone 6-for-11 with a triple, two doubles, and 7 RBI. Baker also went 3-for-5 from the leadoff spot with a walk as well. He scored 3 runs and is tied for the team lead with 12 hits and is batting a .387.
The Red Raiders will be back at it Wednesday in the final game against Texas Southern. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.
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