Five-game homestand proves beneficial for Texas Tech baseball
Mac Heuer didn't have his best stuff in Sunday's series finale against Houston.
A month into his stint as a starting pitcher for the Texas Tech baseball team, Heuer said he's growing more and more comfortable in the spot, preferring to have the week to prepare between outings rather than having to always be ready as a reliever. But the freshman showed in the Red Raiders' 12-8 win that as good as his stuff can be, there are still some growing pains along the way.
Heuer needed 35 pitches to work out of the first inning, surrendering three walks and a two-run home run in the opening stanza. By the time he exited in the fourth inning, he had matched his season walk total of six in one game, adding two hit batsmen and four earned runs.
When Heuer found the strike zone, he was still good, striking out seven. It comes with the ebbs and flows of a season, and being a first-year college player.
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"I thought I competed well," Heuer said of the no decision. "My command just wasn't there today. That's just part of it sometimes, but I thought I competed well, got through as much as I could."
Tim Tadlock approved of that message. The Tech coach said Heuer's still a young player who has good stuff.
"Really proud of him competing today, hanging in there," Tadlock said, "and just competing pitch to pitch."
Like the other starting pitchers in the weekend series, Heuer had some good run support. Gavin Kash's grand slam was part of a seven-run third inning that thwarted the Cougars' early momentum after leading 3-1. It was the fifth straight game, all part of Tech's homestand, the Red Raiders had double-digit runs. That kind of offense helps a pitcher like Heuer who may not have his best stuff.
"It takes a lot of pressure off," Heuer said. "... As a pitcher, it kind of changes your mentality a little bit when they put up a seven-spot for you. You can just go attack."
Texas Tech's offensive surge, Tadlock said, is partly because of Rip Griffin Field being more friendly to offenses due to the high winds throughout the week. The homestand also gave the Red Raiders a chance to catch their breath a bit.
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"College baseball season doesn't present a lot of practice time with as many days as we play a week," Tadlock said, "and as many days as you have to have a week by the NCAA. The week did present some opportunities just to go over some fundamentals, which was good."
Tadlock also said the team can't concern itself with its postseason outlook right now — most projections released this week had Texas Tech just outside of the NCAA Tournament picture. Keeping the team's six-game winning streak going while playing the next six on the road would be a good start to improving those odds.
"We're not a finished product," Tadlock said. "We came away with three wins this weekend, but each day's kind of, you want to build as much margin for error as you can. As far as RPI goes, you go play good baseball, that's going to take care of itself."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: How Texas Tech baseball's homestand proved beneficial
