Red Raiders Win Series Opener for the Ages

Red Raiders Win Series Opener for the Ages

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Texas Tech (19-8, 3-4) was swept in Austin last weekend, they were walked off in Albuquerque making it three walk-off losses in a row, and after an inning and a half Friday they trailed the TCU Horned Frogs 8-0 and all seemed lost. But an improbable comeback followed, several comebacks in fact, as they trailed 12-6 and 16-10 but never stopped battling and rode a nine-run seventh inning to take the lead and keep it to take game one of a pivotal conference series over TCU (16-10, 4-3) by a score of 20-16.

The score may look more like a football game, but the punches and counterpunches made it feel more like a boxing match as the Red Raiders and Horned Frogs traded blows again and again on a windswept Friday night in Lubbock.

TCU struck first, stringing together three home runs, two more hits, a walk, and two errors to jump out to an 8-0 lead as they knocked around starter Brendan Girton.

“I’m really proud of him. He really sucked it up and gave us a good five innings,” said Head Coach Tim Tadlock of Brendan Girton. “We didn’t help him any, he competed like crazy for the 4 1/3, really proud of the way he handled the whole thing.”

Girton surrendered 11 runs, only 4 of which were earned, in his 4 1/3 innings of work, and he continued to battle against an opponent that seemed destined to swing the bats effectively. He gave way to multiple bullpen arms who did their best to stave off the onslaught brought by TCU hitters, but it was Brandon Beckel who stole the show.

After the eight-run outburst in the first two frames, Tech held TCU to one run per inning over the next four. Allowing the Red Raider bats to heat up. Gavin Kash pounded a solo bomb in the first and chipped in one for insurance in the eighth as well, his first multi-jack game since facing Western Illinois. Owen Washburn followed Kash with a single and an RBI single from Gage Harrelson plated him to put up a crooked number.

In the third, four hits and a walk made it a three-run frame for Tech as they made it a 5-9 ballgame. But Tech went down in order in the fourth and a Hudson White solo dinger matched TCU’s run to make it 11-6 in favor of the Horned Frogs going into the sixth, but then it started to get interesting.

TCU put up only one in the top of the sixth, and carried a 12-6 lead heading into the Tech half of the frame. But three straight one-out hits from Harrelson, Kevin Bazzell, and Austin Green followed by two-out base knocks from Washburn and White plated four for the Red Raiders, pulling them within two in a 12-10 contest.

The Horned Frogs responded however, plating four of their own in the top of the seventh inning to draw it right back out to a six-run game. But something about this 2023 Red Raider squad just doesn’t allow them to quit.

Starting with a Tracer Lopez infield single, the first of two in the inning for him, the Red Raiders strung 5 hits, 2 errors, 2 RBI walks, and an RBI HBP, all while pinch-hitting Drew Woodcox and Ty Coleman to piece together a nine-run frame that saw seven runs scored with two outs. Texas Tech took the lead when Nolen Hester smoked a line-hugging two-out double into the left field corner and extended it when Harrelson added a two-run single to right field.

In the eighth, Kash added some insurance in his second home run of the evening to tack on one more making it 20-16. That makes 11 home runs on the season for the Texas transfer, putting him solely at the top of the Big 12 leaderboard.

The Red Raiders didn’t hang a zero on the scoreboard for TCU until the eighth when Beckel entered the game. Fresh off of a four-game suspension for being too excited about playing baseball, the righthander brought his 0.64 ERA to the game and struck out two while allowing one hit in his first inning of work. It was Beckle’s ball in the ninth as well and he struck out the side K, ꓘ, K to slam the door and earn the first save of his collegiate career.

“Obviously, it was fun to get him back in a game. We needed to get him in a game tonight either way,” explained Tadlock. “It was good that he came in and put a couple zeros up for sure.”

It was a historic night for many reasons as the 36 combined runs shattered a 30-run record in the TTU vs. TCU series in the 182nd offering of that rivalry, breaking a 30-run record dating back to 1996. The series with TCU is the most prolific series that the Red Raiders have with any single opponent. Additionally, it was the most runs scored in any Big 12 contest since at least 2011.

As the wind continued, the deficit grew, and the temperature dropped, the Red Raider faithful began to dwindle Friday. But for those who stayed, it was most definitely a game that will not soon be forgotten. The crowd was as loud and engaged as any I remember at Rip Griffin Park as the comeback continued.

“I’d really like to thank everybody for coming out, thank the people that did stay,” said Tadlock “You know I wouldn’t blame you for leaving either at a certain point in there.”

The Red Raider and Horned Frogs will square off again Saturday at 2:00 pm with the broadcast available on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the radio broadcast on Double T 97.3 FM in Lubbock and on The Varsity App.

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