Starting Friday, the Texas Tech baseball team will open a three-game weekend series against Baylor in Waco. The series will be televised via Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
The Red Raiders are coming off a mid-week loss against Abilene Christian that dropped their overall record to 29-15.
Baylor comes into the weekend with a 21-20 overall record after squeezing out a victory over Incarnate Ward during the mid-week. The Bears last time out in Big 12 play resulted in a series sweep from Texas where the Longhorns outscored them 46-9.
Tech sits at No. 46 in the RPI while Baylor sits at No. 58 in the metric. The Red Raiders will have to improve this metric to stay in contention to host a regional in the NCAA tournament.
Pitching:
Baylor heads into the series having lost their ace, Tyler Thomas, to Tommy John surgery earlier in the week.
After the injury, the Bears will likely send sophomore right-hander Will Rigney (4.54 ERA, 1.19 WHIP) to the mound on Friday while Saturday’s and Sunday’s starters will likely be bullpen games.
Baylor has gone with a bullpen game for one of their weekend games all season, but due to the injury to Thomas, they will go with the bullpen for two games.
The Red Raiders will send Andrew Morris and Brandon Birdsell to the mound this weekend, both are coming off complete games against West Virginia last weekend.
Birdsell and his 2.17 ERA is getting draft notice as his draft stock has risen, at least according to Kiley McDaniel’s latest big board that released on Wednesday.
For the Sunday starter, the Red Raiders will likely send Mason Molina to the mound. However, Chase Hampton and Andrew Devine will likely get some action out of the bullpen.
Tadlock said the first inning has been a “struggle” for Hampton as of late and doesn’t see him in a starting role at the moment.
Hitting:
The Bears’ lineup is lead by outfielder Jared McKenzie who carries a .931 OPS into the weekend with seven home runs on the season.
Another hitter to keep an eye out for is first baseman Kyle Nevin who leads the team in home runs with eight with an .851 OPS this season.
Baylor offers a change of pace as TCU, Oklahoma, and West Virginia led the conference in stolen base attempts. The Bears are second to last in attempts in the conference, only ahead of Texas Tech.
The Red Raiders left 36 runners on base in the West Virginia series and on Tuesday against Abilene Christian. This especially showed against the Wildcats as Tech left eight runners in scoring position which included leaving the bases loaded twice in the three-run loss.
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