Texas Tech had seen this script play out before.
Only this time, the Red Raiders were on the other side of the equation against Kansas State.
Victimized early by the home run ball and shut down late by a veteran reliever, 4th-ranked Texas Tech fell into an early hole Friday night and couldn’t climb out in a 7-2 loss at Tointon Family Stadium.
With their first Big 12 Conference victory of the season, the Wildcats (14-11, 1-4) knotted the series at a game apiece with the rubber match set for 4 p.m. Saturday.
Red Raider starting pitcher Patrick Monteverde entered the night having allowed only three earned runs all season, but K-State matched that total with two big swings in the bottom of the 1st inning to seize quick control.
Cameron Uselton slammed a solo home run with one out and Dylan Phillips extended the lead to 3-0 three batters later when he went yard to center field with a runner on base.
Turned out that was all the offense K-State needed on a night when its pitching was lock-down nasty – with a reliable starter and battled-tested reliever keeping Texas Tech (20-5, 4-2) at bay.
Wildcat starter Carson Seymour scattered 7 hits in 5.2 innings, although he also issued 5 walks. One of those free passes, followed by hitting Cole Stilwell with an 0-and-2 pitch, brought an end to Seymour’s night with the bases loaded and two outs in the 6th.
K-State reliever, Tyler Eckberg, who has been a short-stint closer this season, trotted to the mound and put the fire out by striking out Dylan Neuse, and he was just getting warmed up.
Eckberg blazed through the final 3 frames, retiring nine of the final 10 Red Raiders with four more Ks.
The only time the Texas Tech offense managed to generate some damage was in the 5th inning.
With one out, Stillwell walked on four pitches, Neuse laced a double to right field and Cal Conley ended the scoring drought with a ground ball to second base. Braydon Runion, who entered the game in place of Dru Baker, poked an RBI single to left-center field to reduce the deficit to 6-2.
But Seymour slammed the door in style when he fanned Jace Jung on four pitches and the Red Raiders never dented the scoreboard again.
K-State’s offense got to Monteverde for three more runs in the 3rd inning with four hits, anchored by Cameron Thompson’s leadoff double, another two-bagger from Nick Goodwin, and Phillips’ two-run knock to extend the lead to 6-0. Phillips finished 3-for-4 with 4 RBIs and Goodwin was also 3-for-4.
Lost in the rare-this-season setback for Texas Tech were two promising pitching performances out of the bullpen. Eli Riechmann was in action for the first time in conference play and notched two strikeouts to work around a pair of hits. Most impressive was Josh Sanders, who logged the final 1.2 innings and struck out three of the five batters he faced.
