Texas Tech looks to snap the skid in Stillwater this weekend against Oklahoma State after dropping six straight Big 12 series. Tech was swept by Kansas in Lawrence and the league leader in Oklahoma in the final home series of the season over the weekend.

Tech's skid has culminated a frustrating season for the Red Raider baseball program, one that has reached a point that hasn't even been seen under head coach Tim Tadlock's near decade-long tenure.

The sweep at the hands of the Sooners marked the first time Tech had been swept at home under Tadlock in his entire tenure and the first time Tech had been swept at home in a Big 12 series since 2007.

Now, Texas Tech heads to Oklahoma to take on the Cowboys of Oklahoma State, a key series for the Red Raiders for an unexpected reason.

Texas Tech hasn't missed the NCAA tournament since 2015, let alone the Big 12 tournament, but the danger of missing a trip to Arlington is very real after the six-game in-conference skid.

With the expanded conference, the tournament, which is hosted at Globe Life Field for the forseeable future, has changed the format. Only the top ten teams in the conference will make the trip to Arlington, where the Red Raiders currently sit in tenth place heading into the weekend.

With the Red Raiders' "bye" weekend from Big 12 play coming in the final week of the season, Tech will complete it's conference slate this weekend in Stillwater, currently sitting at 12-15 in Big 12 play on the season.

Tech's likely to need to win the series to help themselves out in regards to Big 12 tournament hopes, since the team in 11th place, Baylor, has the tiebreaker over the Red Raiders with the Bears taking the series in Waco.

Baylor sits at 9-15, a tie in the loss column, with a trip to take on the Sooners this weekend and returning to host UCF in the final regular season weekend.

Meaning, if Tech goes 0-3 in Stillwater, Baylor needs to finish 3-3 to make the conference tournament and knock Tech out, and each Tech win would give the Red Raiders another game of cushion (TTU 1-2, BU 4-2; TTU 2-1, BU 5-1; TTU 3-0, BU 6-0).

TCU and UCF are also in the mix to miss the conference tournament, but both hold the tiebreaker over the Red Raiders due to the respective series wins over Tech, but if the Red Raiders win multiple games in Stillwater, the picture will certainly change.

The Red Raiders head to Stillwater for what will be a key series as discussed earlier, so who will pose a threat to Tech this weekend?

It starts with Oklahoma State's two-way standout Carson Benge, who carries a 2.45 ERA into the weekend and is someone who has entered the starting rotation for the Cowboys just two weeks ago.

In those two starts, Benge has allowed just five hits and two runs over 11.1 innings against BYU and Texas.

Benge also comes in on a tear at the plate, having homered seven times in eight games coming into the weekend. He carries the fourth best OPS in the Big 12 with a mark of 1.115 on the season.

Benge isn't the best hitter for the Cowboys, however.

Standout freshman turned star sophomore Nolan Schubert, who infamously dropped the fly ball in left field last season in the Friday night series opening walk-off win for the Red Raiders in 2023, has built quite the season for himself in Stillwater.

Schubert carries the conference's second best OPS of 1.268, only trailing Houston's Cary Arbolida on the season.

Tech's arms will have quite the challenge against the Cowboys' lineup in what will be an all-critical Big 12 finale in Stillwater.