Series Preview and Weekend Thread: Texas Tech vs. West Virginia

Series Details

Dates: Friday, May 5th – Sunday, May 7th
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (37-12, 11-7)
Bad Guys: West Virginia Mountaineers (26-17, 10-8)
Location: Monongalia County Ballpark | Morgantown, West Virginia
Game Notes: Preview | PDF
TV/Stream: Friday and Sunday – WVUSports.com (free); Saturday – FCS Central
Radio/Stream: Broadcast Affiliates
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

West Virginia has been the surprise of the conference. They win the series from then No. 23 Oklahoma State, then took the series from Kansas, then took 2 of 3 from TCU before losing the series to Kansas state and Oklahoma last weekend. West Virginia is a very good club, probably a year ahead of where they thought they might be, and to win a series at TCU is a pretty big deal. They hit well, have plenty of power, hold opponents to about the same average as Texas Tech, both teams have similar ERA’s as well as strikeout and walk numbers.

This is not a team where you presume anything other than a hard-fought series.

And the other interesting thing is that West Virginia has ten Texas kids on their team and their head coach, Randy Mazey was an assistant coach at TCU before getting the head coaching job at West Virginia. He knows how to mine that terrific Texas talent.

News, News, News, News

LAJ’s Nicholas Talbot previews the series with West Virginia and writes about how different members of the team, like Brian Klein and Cody Farhat, have helped pick up this team when the starters were injured:

“(Farhat) has shown up every day and we always knew he had that in him, but with Tanner being out it has given him an opportunity,” Tech shortstop Orlando Garcia said. “He has taken the role and done really well and Klein with Mike out, too.”

All Klein did while Davis recovered last week is win the Big 12 newcomer of the week award, hitting .429 with a team- and Big 12-leading 10 RBIs. In the span of six games, Klein has raised his average from .179 to .286. He also drove in six runs in a 27-15 win over New Mexico and hit a key three-run homer in a 6-4 win over TCU.

“Throughout the year we have used Brian against the better pitching and he continues to give us really good at-bats,” Tadlock said. “There just hasn’t been a lot of opportunities because, obviously, Michael Davis is a pretty good college second baseman.

“All along, though, we thought Brian Klein could swing the bat and separate balls and strikes.”

WVMetroNews’ Allan Taylor looks at the series and please note that West Virginia is down two of their weekend starters:

The No. 6 Red Raiders, currently leading the Big 12 in seven major offensive categories, visit West Virginia on Friday to open a three-game series matching the second- and third-place teams in the league standings.

With ERA leader Michael Grove still sidelined by a forearm strain, the Mountaineers (26-17, 10-8) have only one of their original weekend starters healthy. That compounds the need for coach Randy Mazey to juggle his usage of an erratic bullpen.

Texas Tech (37-12, 11-7) fronts the Big 12 with a .306 team batting while also leading in runs, homers, slugging, on-base percentage, doubles and triples.

“With the depth of their lineup, every guy in there is capable of hitting a homer,” Mazey said. “That always scares you if you make a mistake.”

Stats

Key Texas Tech Hitters:

Key West Virginia Hitters:

Team Stats:

Probable Starters:

Game 1: Friday, May 5th @ 5:30 pm
Texas Tech Starting Pitcher: LHP Steven Gingery (8-0, 1.55)
West Virginia Starting Pitcher: RHP BJ Myers (3-2, 3.66)
Final Score & Box Score: Texas Tech 1, West Virginia 0 (Recap | Box Score)

Friday night’s game was delayed until Saturday, where Texas Tech and West Virginia had to play a double-header. Tim Tadlock would start Erickson Lanning and Ryan Shetter and save ace Steven Gingery for Sunday, which could work out fantastically.

Lanning started this first game and he went 6 innings, only allowing 2 hits, walking 2 and striking out 1, to move to 3-1 on the year. Maybe his best performance of the year. Jacob Patterson earned his first save of the year, going the final 3 innings without allowing a hit, walking 1 and striking out 4. Lanning threw 45 of 80 for strikes and Patterson threw 20 of 34 for strikes.

The only run of the game came in the 5th inning as Grant Little doubled to left field to drive in Cody Farhat. Tanner Gardner started at DH and went 1-3 with a walk and there were just 7 hits total, but just that 1 run, which is all that Texas Tech would need.

Game 2: Saturday, May 6th @ 2:00 pm
Texas Tech Starting Pitcher: LHP Erikson Lanning (2-1, 3.52)
West Virginia Starting Pitcher: RHP Kade Strowd (1-1, 4.80)
Final Score & Box Score: Texas Tech 4, West Virginia 3 (Recap | Box Score)

Texas Tech and West Virginia would somewhat go back and forth all game long, West Virginia would score 2 in the first and then Texas Tech would get 1 back in the third only to see WVU get that same run back. Texas Tech would then just nibble away at 3-1 lead, scoring another run in the 5th, another in the 8th to tie things up and then the go-ahead run in the 9th inning.

Ryan Shetter started and went 4 innings, allowing 5 hits and all 3 West Virginia runs as well as walking 1 and striking out 5. Ty Harpeneau went 2 innings allowing just 1 hit, walking 1 and striking out 3, while Jose Quezada went 2.2 innings, allowing 1 hit, walking none and striking out 5 and earning the win to move to 5-4 on the year. Parker Mushinski got the final out and his 4th save of the year.

While looking at the strikes thrown in the previous game, the staff did a good job of throwing strikes , Shetter threw 41 of 59 for strikes, Harpenau threw 19 of 35, Quezada threw 21 of 31 and Mushinski threw 4 of 8 for strikes.

Ryan Long would double in Michael Davis in the 3rd inning. Orlando Garcia would score on a wild pitch in the 5th inning. Josh Jung would ground into a double-play, but still scored Grant Little. And Cody Farhat would single up the middle to score Garcia to score the go-ahead run. Long would go 2-3 with an RBI. Garcia went 2-3 with 2 runs scored. Farhat continues to rake as he went 3-4 with an RBI.

Game 3: Sunday, May 7th @ 12:00 pm
Texas Tech Starting Pitcher: RHP Ryan Shetter (3-0, 3.46)
West Virginia Starting Pitcher: RHP Alek Manoah (0-1, 3.00)
Final Score & Box Score: West Virginia 3, Texas Tech 2 (Recap | Box Score)

Steven Gingery isn’t perfect, at least not in terms of a baseball record. Gingery took the loss yesterday to move to 8-1 on the year and wasn’t his normal sharp self allowing 3 runs, although only 1 earned, in 4.2 innings, giving up 6 hits, walking 3 and striking out 5. The team as a whole had 3 errors, but Gingery had two of them and one of those errors essentially accounted for the tying and go-ahead runs in the 5th inning. Caleb Kilian pitched the next 2 frames, allowing 2 hits, walking 2 and striking out 3 and John McMillon finished things off by going 1.1 innings, striking out 2.

The offense just wasn’t cranking, and really, it wasn’t cranking all weekend, scoring 7 total runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Ryan Long had the only RBI of the day, and he was 1-4 with a run scored. Michael Davis and Grant Little had multiple hit days, Little going 2-5 and Davis going 2-4.

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