Texas Tech (2-2) took down the Dallas Baptist University Patriots (1-3) 8-4 Tuesday afternoon. It was the Red Raiders’ home opener and a get-right game punctuated by solid pitching and fueled by a season-best performance at the plate.
In their season-opening weekend at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas Tech started 1-2 on the season as they tallied 8 combined hits in their Saturday and Sunday losses. The bats came back to life for the Red Raiders at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park Tuesday as they played in front of a home crowd for the first time in 2022 and lit up Dallas Baptist for 10 hits, taking the lead and extending it with strong situational and two-out hitting in the late innings.
In the bottom of the third, back-to-back singles from Parker Kelly and Dillon Carter set the table and an RBI double by Cole Stilwell plated the first run of the day for either team. Ty Coleman followed with a two-RBI single, giving Tech a 3-0 lead and ending the outing for DBU starter Zach Heaton. Jace Jung followed immediately with a single to center field and Kurt Wilson hit into a double play but plated the final run of the frame for his fourth RBI of the season.
The Patriots answered quickly with a one-out walk followed by a two-out single, but one swing of the bat changed the complexion of the game when right fielder George Specht sent a shot over the right field wall for a three-run bomb that shrunk Tech’s lead to one. The Red Raiders responded in the seventh with a two-out rally started by a double into the right field corner by Carter, who finished 3-4, BB, 3R. Back-to-back walks prompted another pitching change and Jace Jung worked an RBI walk to extend the Red Raider lead to two runs.
Tech poured it on in the eighth inning with another two-out rally as Stilwell batted in his second run of the day and Coleman followed with two more RBIs to total 4 in the home opener, he’s now tied with Wilson for the team lead.
Defensively, Tech put a few more stars in the scorebook and Dalton Porter was particularly notable. He made a sliding catch in left that robbed the Patriots of an extra-base-hit and wrote his name into the no-fly-zone book the Red Raider outfield is already writing in 2022 with a hard-hitting catch at the wall.
Not to be forgotten in this one are the strong pitching performances from all three who appeared on the bump for the Red Raiders. Chase Hampton, in his first start of the season, put together a nice outing of 5.0 IP, 4H, 3R, 2BB, 5K. Aside from the big swing by Specht, Hampton worked out of jams and performed well with runners on base.
He was relieved after five by Brendan Girton in his second appearance of the season. The righty from Gage, OK allowed 1 hit, 1 run, and 1 walk to the eight batters he faced. Trendan Parish also made his second appearance of the young season and he turned in two perfect innings and tallied 3 strikeouts along the way.
The Red Raiders will be back in action this weekend facing the Kent State Golden Flashes in a three-game series. The Friday game has been moved up to a 2:00 pm first pitch due to expected low temperatures Friday evening. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 2:00 pm and Sunday’s at 1:00 pm. All games will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with radio coverage on 97.3 FM or The Varsity App.
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