9th-inning homer sinks Longhorns in opening round of Big 12 baseball tourney
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Tech’s Cade McGee blasted a 2-run home run off the fair pole in the top of the ninth to lift the 10th-seeded Red Raiders past third-seeded Texas 6-4 in the opening round of the Big 12 Conference baseball tournament Tuesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
McGee’s towering fly ball off Longhorns reliever Andre Duplantier with Gavin Kash on first base glanced off the top of the pole in left field, breaking a 4-4 tie. Kash singled to lead off the inning.
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Texas drops to the elimination bracket and will take on Cincinnati at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The loser of that game will be out of the tournament. Texas Tech takes on No. 2 Oklahoma State at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The Longhorns had plenty of chances to take control of the game but left 10 runners on base and finished the game 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Texas put runners on first and third with one out in the sixth inning but failed to plate a run, and Jack O’Dowd’s 2-out double in the eighth went by the wayside after Jalin Flores struck out to end the threat.
O’Dowd had a great game at the plate hitting in the No. 9 spot for the Longhorns, going 3 for 3 with a home run and a double. O’Dowd gave Texas a 2-1 lead in the third with his solo homer, then Max Belyeu smacked a 2-run double to extend the lead to 4-1.
Texas Tech answered right away in the top of the fourth with a 3-run home run by Austin Green to tie the game.
Jared Thomas led off the game with a home run for the Longhorns and Drew Woodcox hit a solo homer in the second for Texas Tech.
Josh Sanders picked up his fifth win of the season for Texas Tech with two innings of relief, working the eighth and ninth. Duplantier was saddled with the loss after allowing the McGee go-ahead homer.
The game began almost two hours after it was scheduled to due to Central Florida’s 6-5 win over Cincinnati in 11 innings. The first pitch came at 9:22 p.m. when it was originally set for 7:30 p.m. The 2-hour, 43-minute contest ended at 12:05 a.m. Wednesday.
Kansas topped Kansas State 2-1 in the opening game of the first round and TCU topped West Virginia 5-2.
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