Series Details
Dates: Thursday, May 17th – Saturday, May 19th
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (35-15, 12-9)
Bad Guys: Oklahoma State Cowboys (29-19-1, 16-5)
Location: Allie P. Reynolds Stadium | Stillwater, Oklahoma
Game Notes: Preview | PDF
TV/Stream: Thursday (FSSW+); Friday (FSSW+); Saturday (FSOK)
Radio/Stream: Broadcast Affiliates
Live Stats: SideArm Stats
The starting rotation was the biggest news from where things are headed. I was almost all but certain that head coach Tim Tadlock said after the Texas series that John McMillon would get the start an that he was out of place as a reliever, but that’s not what happened against Oklahoma State. And not only does the Sunday starter get moved, but the entire starting rotation has new days along with a new starter of Dylan Dusek on Friday, Davis Martin on Saturday and Caleb Kilian on Sunday. I do think that Tadlock is maybe also thinking ahead to the Big 12 Championship to start next week, maybe Wednesday.
The Cowboys have been a weird team. They’ve won in conference. That’s a full stop. Lots of credit goes there, but they’ve somewhat faltered as of late. Oklahoma State swept TCU, Kansas State, Kansas, and Oklahoma and that’s where that stellar conference record starts. After sweeping the Sooners, OSU played an out of conference series with Iowa and lost 1-2, and then lost the series to Baylor last weekend.
The numbers really tend to favor Texas Tech by a wide margin, but that’s been the case for the entire year in conference and that just hasn’t happened for the Red Raiders. Texas Tech is a better hitting team and you could say that Oklahoma State is comparable to Texas Tech in most pitching categories. I find it odd how well teams have hit against Oklahoma State, that’s a really high average.
News, News, News, News
I could find very little coverage (a short preview in the Tulsa World along with previews of OU, Tulsa and Oral Roberts in the same article) and no coverage in the A-J.
Team Stats
| Texas Tech Red Raiders | Oklahoma State Cowboys | |
|---|---|---|
| avg | .310 | .262 |
| slg% | .511 | .448 |
| ob% | .425 | .361 |
| ERA | 4.28 | 5.30 |
| Oavg | .234 | .281 |
| SO/9 | 9.38 | 8.37 |
| BB/9 | 5.45 | 5.30 |
| fld% | .972 | .970 |
Key Hitter Stats
| Key Texas Tech Hitters | avg | slg% | ob% | fld% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OF Grant Little | .380 | .674 | .478 | .989 |
| INF Cameron Warren | .317 | .540 | .438 | .990 |
| INF Gabe Holt | .351 | .485 | .459 | .959 |
| INF Josh Jung | .392 | .676 | .488 | .946 |
| OF Brian Klein | .312 | .478 | .430 | 1.000 |
| DH Zach Rheams | .355 | .736 | .478 | 1.000 |
| Key Oklahoma State Hitters | avg | slg% | ob% | fld% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| INF Michael Neustifter | .323 | .491 | .383 | .962 |
| OF Carson McCusker | .306 | .622 | .393 | .949 |
| INF Matt Kroon | .296 | .554 | .415 | .942 |
| C/OF Colin Simpson | .293 | .639 | .395 | .983 |
| OF Jon Littell | .246 | .421 | .364 | .989 |
| OF Trevor Boone | .381 | .521 | .316 | .973 |
Probable Starters
| Game | Texas Tech Starting Pitchers | Oklahoma State Starting Pitchers |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, May 17th, @ 6:30 pm (FSSW+) | LHP Dylan Dusek (3-0, 2.59) | RHP Joe Lienhard (5-2, 5.73) |
| Friday, May 18th, @ 6:30 pm (FSSW+) | RHP Davis Martin (6-4, 3.90) | LHP Carson Teel (7-2, 3.88) |
| Saturday, May 19th, @ 1:00 pm (FSOK) | RHP Caleb Kilian (8-1, 1.88) | TBA |
Game Recaps:
Game 1 – Thursday, May 17th @ 6:30 p.m. (FSSW+)
Final Score: Texas Tech 9 (36-15, 13-9), Oklahoma State 4 (29-20-1, 16-6)
Box Score: Recap | Box Score
The pitching moves really sort of worked. Dylan Dusek was solid, giving up a solo home run in the 2nd and those 2 innings was all he would pitch as Ryan Shetter (W, 4-0) earned the win going 6 innings, striking out 6 and walking 2, 5 of those innings were spectacular. The 8th inning Shetter gave up a 3 run home run, but the game was out of hand at that point (or at least Texas Tech was up 8-1 at the time). Jose Quezada pitched the final frame without incident.
Texas Tech really broke things open in the 7th inning behind a Cody Masters bases clearing triple, scoring 3 and then Masters would score on a wild pitch right after that. Michael Davis went 1-4 with a two-run home run and big Cam Warren would go 3-4 on the day with a walk. Grant Little ran into Cody Farhat (I had walked away from the TV, so I missed this) and had to be taken out of the game. I caught the tail end of Little walking out and he looked really shakey.
No. 10 @TTU_Baseball takes the early series lead in Stillwater winning the first game 9-4 over no. 14 Oklahoma State.#WreckEm | #GoPokes pic.twitter.com/HJQJVKfu9y
— FOX Sports Southwest (@FOXSportsSW) May 18, 2018
Game 2 – Friday, May 18th @ 6:30 p.m. (FSSW+)
Final Score: Texas Tech 14 (37-15, 14-9), Oklahoma State 6 (29-21-1, 16-7)
Box Score: Recap | Box Score
Do you like home runs? Well, I hope you like five of them because that’s how many flew out of the park for Texas Tech on Friday night: Brian Klein (4-6, 1 RBI, 1 home run); Josh Jung (3-4, 2 RBI, 1 home run); Grant Little (2-5, 6 RBI, 2 home runs [actually it was 2 3-run home runs]); and Zach Rheams (1-6, 1 RBI, 1 home run). Texas Tech had 19 hits overall and it’s really nice to see the offense break out on the road in an important series. Davis Martin was shaky again, lasting only 2.1 innings, giving up 7 hits, 5 runs, walking 1 and striking out 2. Martin is just not missing any bats right now. Ty Harpenau (W, 5-2) was very good in relief going 4.1 innings allowing 1 hit, 1 run, walking 4 and striking out 6. Caleb Freeman pitched the final 2.1 frames with 2 hits and striking out 4. That’s a solid bullpen effort. Very happy that Grant Little returned, he looked shook last night.
This win gets the series for Texas Tech and now Texas Tech will pitch their best pitcher today. I mentioned in the preview that Oklahoma state may not be the best team to gauge how Texas Tech is doing because they lost 2 of 3 against Iowa and Baylor before meeting Texas Tech
It’s gone final in Stillwater. @TTU_Baseball wins the second game against Oklahoma State 14-6.#WreckEm pic.twitter.com/EVqxSji0Ox
— FOX Sports Southwest (@FOXSportsSW) May 19, 2018
Game 3 – Saturday, May 19th @ 1:00 p.m. (FSOK)
Final Score: Texas Tech 7 (38-15, 15-9), Oklahoma State 3 (29-22-1, 16-8)
Box Score: Recap | Box Score
Sweep! Pretty fun little series. Pretty fun little series. The game really started off well, with a lead-off home run from Gabe holt and then Zach Rheams had a ground-rule double that scored Josh Jung and Brian Klien. Oklahoma State would could back to tie it at 3, but that would be all they got as Texas Tech would score a run in the 4th and 3 in the 7th to get to 7-3. Not exactly a huge day at the plate, only 8 hits overall. Rheams was the only player with a multi-hit game, going 2-5 with 3 RBI. Caleb Kilian had maybe his “worst” start in a while and he went 4.1 innings, giving up 3 runs, walking 1 and striking out 3. John McMillon (W, 5-3) was terrific in relief, going 2.1, allowing just a hit, walking 3 and striking out 2. Jose Quezada was okay, goign 1.2 innings, walking 2 and striking out 2, while Connor Queen closed out the game after a lengthy rain delay, getting the final two outs without incident.
Texas Tech is now the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and will face TCU at 7:30. As you probably know, this is a double-elimination tournament and for me to try to go through the bracket would be pointless, but you can check it out here (PDF). And winning the Big 12 title would have been really nice, but two injured starting pitchers resulted in a season that was a lot tougher than it should have been had they been healthy. Texas was back-doored into the Big 12 title, but that’s just fine and they won it fair and square. I know I’m supposed to be salty about it, but I’m not. Congrats to UT. I’m more worried about hosting in the NCAA Tournament for a lengthy period of time.