Tech Falls Just Short to Rice in Pitcher’s Duel

Tech Falls Just Short to Rice in Pitcher’s Duel

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HOUSTON – It was a pitcher’s duel early between the Red Raiders (10-1) and the Rice Owls (3-6) as Brendan Girton and Parker Smith faced off in the opening game of the Shriners Children’s College Classic on Friday. They always talk about football being a game of inches, well Friday it played out on the baseball diamond defensively and offensively for the Tech.

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Girton got the ball to start for Texas Tech and was dealing early, retiring the first seven hitters he faced in order. Rice capitalized on a walk and error in the third and ultimately juiced the bases, but Girton worked out of the jam working a groundout to Gavin Kash at first base that he played beautifully up the line and was well-covered by Girton.

The Red Raiders struggled to get going at the plate, with only three hits through the first six innings against Smith who was excellent. He commanded three pitches well and hammered the fastball in with conviction. Ultimately he went six innings for the Owls allowing only three hits and striking out eight Red Raiders.

Girton dealt with some extremely close calls at the bag, including one from a single off of his body, that ran his pitch count up enough that he exited after 4 1/3 innings.

“I thought Girton really picked us up in the one inning where we didn’t turn the double play, I think he got four or five outs in that inning. Pretty sure it ended up being five with the play off of his foot. I thought he did an outstanding job persevering through that and unfortunately though ran up some pitches in that inning and had to go to the bullpen a little earlier,” explained Head Coach Tim Tadlock after the game.

“We were not even two times through the order and the pitch count was pretty high. You could kind of tell it was going to be one of those games and you wanted to provide a little more margin for error and their starter didn’t allow that.”

While the Tech didn’t hit on every double play attempt, they did turn one, adding to their already nation-leading number to make it 17 turned double plays on the season.

Josh Sanders entered in relief and turned in 1 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball with two strikeouts. Andrew Devine (1-1) was called on next in a critical moment and surrendered a solo go-ahead home run to Jack Riedel in the bottom of the seventh inning. After issuing a walk to the next batter, Devine gave way to Ryan Free who pitched 1 2/3 innings of perfect baseball with three strikeouts to hold the line and give Tech the chance to get the win.

“Sitting there trying to pick between Free and Devine I guess we picked the wrong one at the time. Riedel goes up there and we’re trying to go away and he gets a fastball in the middle of the plate, hits it in the wind, said Tadlock.

In the top of the ninth inning, Kash hit Tech’s only extra-base hit of the day, what looked like a bending line drive home run rebounded off of the top of the Red Raider’s bullpen in right-center field for a one-out double. With the tying run in scoring position and two outs on the board, Dillon Carter worked a walk to put two aboard but no more opportunities would come as Tracer Lopez became the twelfth Red Raider of the day to strike out, ending the rally.

Texas Tech was held to their lowest hit total (4) of the season, surpassing the low of six hits that yielded six runs against Western Illinois in the second game last Saturday. Kevin Bazzell was the only Red Raider with a multi-hit day, owning half of Tech’s hits with two singles in the middle innings.

“Tip your hat to those guys [Rice], their kids played great. It was a fun game to be a part of,” said Tadlock. “Obviously, the Woodcox situation added a little life to their dugout there in the ninth, and that’s good for college baseball.”

The “Woodcox situation” is in reference to Drew Woodcox having played at Rice last season, including in the series against the Red Raiders. While he didn’t book a hit today, Woodcox did reach with a walk to lead off the seventh and came around to score on a wild pitch.

The Red Raiders will return to action Saturday at 11:00 am as they face Michigan. The history with the Wolverines has grown over the years as they came to Lubbock and were swept in 2019 but ultimately handed Texas Tech both of their losses in the College World Series. More recently, Owen Washburn sent a hit into right field that plated the winning run to walk off the Wolverines last season for Tech’s lone win at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

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