Unfortunately, the Texas Tech baseball team was unable to make a final stand against Texas in Lubbock this weekend, dropping two of three games against the Longhorns at Rip Griffin Park. . The unfortunate trend continued in 2023-24 with Texas Tech's team not performing well against Texas.
On Friday night, the Horns opened the series with a commanding 22-8 victory. With the game tied 4-4 in the top of the fourth inning, UT broke things off with a seven-run blast off Tech starting pitcher Kyle Robinson. Making things even harder to swallow was the fact that all of Texas' points came with two outs in the first inning. Then, in the top of the fifth inning, the Horns scored five more runs, putting the ball completely out of reach.
It was a disappointing turn of events, as Texas opened with four runs in the top of the first inning before Tech scored four to tie the game. If there was a positive to take away from Friday night, it was the home runs by Austin Green, Damian Bravo and Will Barnes.
On Saturday, Texas Tech bounced back with a 7-2 win. The star of the day was freshman starting pitcher Mac Hoyer, who pitched six innings with only two solo home runs, eight strikeouts, and one walk.
At the plate, Dylan Maxey hit his first long ball of the year as part of a four-RBI day. Also, Gavin Kash recorded two RBIs with a double that crossed the third base line.
Sunday was the best game of the series. Unfortunately, that was something Teck missed.
In Texas' 9-7 win, Tech actually led 3-0, 4-2 and 6-3, but each time the Horns had the answer. The biggest inning for the visiting team was the top of the 6th inning, when they took a complete lead with three runs.
The Red Raiders were partially marred by two critical errors. In fact, two UT earned runs will be the difference between the outcome of the game.
Perhaps the pressure of hosting or playing Texas as a Big 12 foe for the last time was too much for Texas Tech's sports teams this year. The Red Raider football team struggled 57-7 to the Longhorns in Austin as a conference foe in the last meeting between the programs.
And just last month, the Red Raider basketball team played their worst game of the year when they hosted Texas for the final time. Despite opening Big 12 play by defeating Texas by 11 points in Austin, the Red Raiders were crushed 81-69 in Lubbock.
Well, the Texas Tech baseball team dropped its final home series against UT this weekend from two games to one. Maybe this wasn't the year for Tech to play the Horns, or maybe the Red Raider team put too much pressure on themselves trying to give the people of Lubbock what they desperately needed. But whatever the reason, the Red Raiders certainly didn't knock Texas out of the South Plains and the Big 12 like we all had hoped.
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