Red Raiders return home to host New Mexico

NEW MEXICO at TEXAS TECH

Lubbock, Texas | Rip Griffin Park

March 7, 2023

Texas Tech Game Notes (PDF) | New Mexico Game Notes (PDF)

STARTERS

Texas Tech returns home to host New Mexico on Tuesday and will look to improve on its perfect 10-0 start to the season in games played at Rip Griffin Park. Should the Red Raiders win on Tuesday, it would mark the fourth-straight year the Red Raiders started 11-0 at home.

Coverage will be provided via Big 12 Now on ESPN+. Daniel Gillman will be on the mic for play-by-play duties while former Red Raider baseball player Mike Gustafson will provide the analysis on Tuesday. All broadcasts can be accessed from any desktop or laptop computer, personal cellular device and television streaming services using the ESPN app. Registration for the subscription service can be found at ESPNPlus.com.

Texas Tech Sports Network will also broadcast the game over 46 affiliates throughout the state of Texas and New Mexico as well as on the web via the Varsity App. Jamie Lent will have the call alongside Chois Woodman.

TEXAS TECH IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS

For the first time since May 9, 2022, the Red Raiders are not ranked inside the Top 25 of all six major national polls. D1Baseball dropped Tech out of the rankings after it lost its first two games of the season at the Shriners Children’s College Classic played in Houston, Texas at Minute Maid Park. Tech fell 3-2 to Rice on Friday and 4-2 in 16 innings to No. 15 Texas A&M on Sunday. The Red Raiders defeated Michigan 10-7 in the middle game.

The Red Raiders landed inside the Top 25 in the five other polls, released Monday, March 6.

D1Baseball: NR

Baseball America: 25

NCBWA: No. 21

Collegiate Baseball: 18

USA Coaches: No. 21

Perfect Game: No. 15

PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS

Tuesday, March 6: LHP Zach Erdman (1-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Wil Bannister (0-0, 2.25 ERA)

QUICK TURNAROUND

The final out was recorded at 12:39 a.m. Monday morning in the Red Raiders’ 16-inning marathon versus No. 15 Texas A&M last time out. First pitch is anticipated at 2:02 p.m. vs. the Lobos on Tuesday, providing 37 hours and 23 minutes between games. The Red Raiders returned from Houston at approximately 4 a.m. Monday morning.

The-16 inning contest matched the longest of head coach Tim Tadlock’s tenure with the Red Raiders. On March 3, 2015, the Red Raiders played 16 innings at Rip Griffin Park as sophomore pinch hitter Ryan Long’s double scored Hunter Hargrove to give the Red Raiders a 6-5 victory over Abilene Christian. The two 16-inning games in the last eight-plus years are only short of the longest game played, by innings, in school history when Tech had a school-record 17-inning game at Southeastern Oklahoma State in 1966.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

The Red Raiders own the nation’s top mark in a couple of statistical categories entering Tuesday’s game vs. New Mexico – double plays (20) and sacrifice flies (20). Tech by far and away leads the country with 20 sac flies – next closest is 11 – led by Austin Green’s NCAA-best six sac flies, five of which were logged in a single series – vs. WIU. Nolen Hester’s 17 base on ball ranks No. 4 nationally, and Kevin Bazzell and Gage Harrelson rank No. 5 nationally in doubles each with seven. Gavin Kash’s 24 hits rank No. 4 in the NCAA, and Austin Green’s 19 RBIs rank No. 9 in the country.

PREPARE FOR SOME OFFENSE

Tuesday’s matchup pits the nation’s No. 4 offense versus the nation’s No. 5 offense in terms of runs scored. The Lobos have scored 137 runs this season, fourth-most, and the Red Raiders have scored 135 runs, fifth-most. New Mexico has played two fewer games than Texas Tech, therefore scoring 12.5 runs per game which leads the nation while the Red Raiders sit 13th in the nation per game scoring 10.4 runs per game. Historically, the Red Raiders have produced big numbers vs. the Lobos, totaling three 20-plus run outbursts over the last 10 matchups which includes last season’s 28-2 victory on March 15. In the last 10 games in the series, Tech is 8-2 vs. New Mexico and averaging 14.3 runs per game over those 10 games.

SERIES HISTORY – NEW MEXICO

Tuesday’s meeting will be the 128th all-time between the two programs

Tech has played New Mexico more times than any school that has never been a part of the Big 12

Texas Tech holds a 78-48-1 advantage in the all-time series, which began in 1962.

The two clubs have met every year since 1990 with the exceptions being 1997 and the 2020 COVID season.

Since 2016, Tech owns a 13-4 advantage against UNM.

Under Tadlock, the Red Raiders are 16-8 against New Mexico

Tech has won more than 70 percent of its home games versus the Lobos, owning a 50-20 all-time advantage.

HISTORY MADE LAST YEAR VS. LOBOS

Texas Tech used a single inning program-record 16 runs in the second inning on March 15, 2022 to lead it to a 28-2 win against New Mexico in its first of two games last year at Rip Griffin Park. Texas Tech’s 28 runs marked the seventh time the program has scored 28 or better. The Red Raiders reached 28 runs again on April 2, 2022 at Kansas.

Texas Tech most runs scored in a game/all-time

31, 1997 vs. College of the Southwest

30, 2004 vs. Harvard

30, 1984 vs. Baylor

29, 1975 vs. Rice

28, 1996 vs. Eastern Michigan

28, 1928 vs. Shallowater

28, 2022 vs. New Mexico

28, 2022 vs. Kansas

BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship, will be hosted at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, May 24-28. For info on attending and tickets, visit Big12Sports.com.

–TECH–