It was all Texas Tech all day as the Red Raiders (26-8, 7-2) took down Kansas State (15-15, 1-7) 14-0 in Tech’s first shutout victory since taking down Kansas 5-0 on May 22, 2021.
Brandon Birdsell was brilliant in his eighth start of the season as he fanned a dozen Wildcats in six innings of one-hit work in front of Texas Tech’s fifth Big 12 sellout crowd in as many games at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. Birdsell now owns a 70-to-13 strikeout to walk ratio on the year and has allowed only one hit in his last two starts after turning in a hitless five innings in Lawrence last Saturday. Birdsell, who improved to 5-1 on the season, has now pushed his ERA down to 1.98 and an incredible WHIP of .95. He’s holding opposing batters to a paltry .178 average across 41 innings pitched.
“He’s got really good stuff,” said Head Coach Tim Tadlock. “I mean, anytime a guy has that kind of stuff sometimes guys feel like they’ve got to get the bat going earlier and it give you a little more margin for error.”
When asked about what so many strikeouts can do mentally during an outing Birdsell responded, “It definitely builds confidence. You don’t have to talk to anybody, you don’t have to ask anybody. If you’re getting swings and misses you know the stuff’s playing well. I mean when you’re getting lots of swings and misses, your confidence grows as the game goes on and you get better and better pitch by pitch.”
Colin Clark was strong in his tenth relief appearance turning in three innings of work and earning his first save of the season. Clark allowed only two hits to combine with Birdsell for a three-hit performance.
Offensively, the Red Raiders were dangerous up and down the lineup with every Tech starter reaching safely. Tech ran K-State starter Blake Corsentino after two innings after lighting up the lefthander for 7 hits and 8 runs, four of which were earned.
Zac Vooletich got the start in left field in place of Easton Murrell, who is out with a knee laceration, and turned in a multi-hit afternoon (2-5, R). Cole Stilwell worked behind the dish Saturday and also had a multi-hit game and scored three runs (2-4, 2B, BB, 3R). A Jace Jung double in the first started a two-out rally that set the table for Kurt Wilson.
Wilson turned in the performance of the day, reaching safely in every plate appearance to go 3-3, 2B, HR, 3RBI. The dinger was a moonshot that Wilson pounded to left field with two outs in the first scoring Jung and Ty Coleman, who’d reached on an error. He followed with a double in the second inning, walks in the fourth and seventh, and a single in the eighth. Saturday marks the second time in 2022 Wilson was a hit shy of Texas Tech’s seventh cycle in program history.
Wilson plays loose and relaxed on the field. He’s quick to smile, laugh, enjoy the moment, and find pleasure in the entire experience of his fifth season with the Red Raiders.
“I think anytime a guy can enjoy playing and enjoy the pitch to pitch it’s definitely going to help,” said Tadlock about Wilson’s demeanor. “He has a good time probably wherever he is, yeah I think that can definitely carry over. He doesn’t make too big a deal out of too many things and he’s playing good right now.”
Hudson White led off the second inning with Tech’s second and final home run of the day. White’s solo shot pushed the Red Raiders past the University of Texas into the Big 12 lead in a tight race for the power title between conference foes.
Defensively the Red Raiders turned two double plays to end both the fifth and ninth innings, both of the 6-4-3 variety. The Red Raiders are last in the Big 12 with 11 double plays turned this season. Texas Tech also leads the conference in strikeouts with 353, an average of more than 10 per game. With so many opposing hitters being fanned, the number of baserunners Tech is dealing with seems to also be reducing the opportunities to turn two.
“We’ve been practicing a lot of double plays recently because we know, obviously we’re baseball players we understand we haven’t been turning those plays,” said Jung. “We made two big ones today and it got us out of jams.”
The Red Raiders will be playing for the sweep of the Wildcats Sunday as they continue to hunt for their first Big 12 series sweep. Texas Tech has lost three Sunday games in a row dating back to a road trip to Iowa. The last two Sunday losses prevented Tech from securing sweeps in their first two Big 12 series against Texas and Kansas respectively.
“I think the day of the week’s kind of relative. Tomorrow’s a new day and we’ve got to go earn the right to win tomorrow,” explained Tadlock. “The last three Sundays, you’re talking about teams that beat us on that day, we didn’t earn the right to win. We didn’t play good enough to win but it could have just as easily happened on Monday or Tuesday. It’s day three of a series and really what we aspire to do is to get a little bit better each day. To keep evolving and keep growing each day as a team and I think as long as we keep sight of that everything will be fine.”
The Red Raiders will have their opportunity at 12:30 pm at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park. The live stream will be available on ESPN+ with the radio call available on Double T 97.3 FM and in their listening area, as well as through The Varsity Network App.
GAME 1 RECAP: Red Raiders Down Wildcats 6-3
TTU34 box score