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Heart breaking. The last time that Texas Tech stole home was in 2014, on 3/30 at Rip Griffin Park. Davis from Tech stole home with 2 outs facing John Curtiss on the mound, to tie up the ball game in the bottom of the 9th, Tech eventually fell in the 12th inning and Texas won the series. Fast forward 8 years and this time around, Texas Tech stole home, but unfortunately for Texas it resulted in a walk off win. Interestingly enough, Nixon is not known as a guy that is easy to run on, but Wilson, who had been taking a sizeable lead anyways went full send as soon as he saw Nixon come set. Nixon who does have a tendency to collect himself never even had a chance to throw as Wilson slid in to home to walk it off. Avoidable? yes. End of the world? no. Teachable moment? ABSOLUTELY! When there is a guy on 3rd base, regardless of the outs and strikes, you have to give him at least a precursory glance to ensure nothing funny happens. With 2 outs and an 0-2 count, Nixon, who has been working through some fastball command issues didn't not take that extra moment to hold the runner and as a result, Texas dropped the conference opener.
Tadlock after the game did say that Jace plays with a lot of emotion and that is one of the reasons they love him, but he got caught up in the moment and wishes today he had not done that. Tadlock stated they want to play the right way and that is not what we want to do. Not that it matters, but I have a feeling that Tadlock probably told Jace to let his actions speak for him the rest of the series as Texas historically is not a team you want to rile up and in the game of baseball, it usually comes back to bite you in the ass.
Regardless of what you think about this team, Pierce's decision to put in Southard after Hansen or this team's trajectory, one thing about this team is that they are going to continue to grind it out and be methodic. They are not going to go outside of themselves to try and be something they aren't. Pierce is not going to blow a gasket a la Tony Vitello and burn the church pews to ashes. The team and coaching staff are going to collect themselves and come out today ready to grind out at bats against a talented hard throwing right hander and rely upon the veteran Tristan Stevens to locate and execute against a dangerous group of hitters.
Speaking of Tech hitters. Outside of Jace Jung, this is probably the worst group of hitters that I have seen under Tadlock. Yes, they hit three homers, but the way Hansen left those pitches hanging, there aren't many good teams in the nation that could not hit those out. Hansen locked in after the 3rd homer in the 2nd inning and went on to retire 17 straight. Southard still over throws a bit and even he was not giving up any hard hits. The Red Raiders played solid defense and Morris benefitted from a very lopsided zone at times to keep the Texas hitters off balance, but coming out of the game my initial thought was that Tech is beatable and Texas has the talent to win 2 of 3. Will it be easy? Hell no. This is baseball. If it is easy, then the other shoe is about to drop! Anyways, for all the gloom and doom, Texas still has everything to play for and as mentioned, they are not a team that is going to go quietly, so as Augie said numerous times, "You've got to play the game and play it consistently no matter who you're playing."
One other note about conference play is that Texas conference schedule is front loaded this year and the Horns also play 3 of the last 4 at home and they get TCU, Okie State and Baylor all at home, while the Oklahoma game is now at a neutral site. Despite a tough opener, that bodes well for Texas.
Key to Saturday's game:
It has been mentioned numerous times before, but Texas needs to run up the pitch count and get Birdsell out of the game. Tech used up two of their best arms in the pen last night. Stevens is going to need to come out and execute. He can't be timid and he most certainly cannot leave his pitches up. As a guy who pitches to contact and does not generate a ton of swing and misses, Stevens has to keep his cutter low in the zone and let the defense play behind him. Trust the gloves of Skyler, Faltine and Daly to do the work for you and attack the zone. Two other areas that the Horns need to get going is Hodo who has been struggling a bit at the plate lately and they have to find some consistent hitting at the DH spot. Jack didn't do terribly but back to back hits to the 1B in pressure situations is not going to cut it and DC still has not found his groove after an outstanding summer and fall. In listening to Pierce talk about DC, they know the talent is there and think he can be electric, but DC really needs to find some confidence at the plate as he would be a massive boost to the bottom of the lineup with his natural power and gap to gap hitting.
#2 TEXAS (18-6, 0-1) at #16 TEXAS TECH (19-4, 1-0)
March 26, 2022
Where: Rip Griffin Park
Time: Friday at 2 p.m.
TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
All-time series with Texas Tech: Texas leads, 117-51
Pitching Matchups for Saturday:
Texas RHP Tristan Stevens (4-1, 1.17)
Texas Tech RHP Brandon Birdsell (3-1, 1.80)
On the season, Birdsell has made 5 starts and pitched 25 innings. He has given up 15 hits, 6 runs, 8 walks and 43 strikeouts. He is averaging 5 IP per game and has not gone over 6 IP yet. Tech also used 4 bullpen guys last night with only the Freshman closed Parish available to pitch today.
Texas Stats on the Season:
BA - .305
OPS - .914
ERA - 2.68
WHIP - 1.13
Tech Stats on the Season:
BA - .282
OPS - .868
ERA - 3.89
WHIP - 1.18
