Up in the air: Tech tries to firm up postseason chances
For Texas Tech baseball teams during the Tim Tadlock coaching era, making the NCAA postseason is usually a foregone conclusion by the time May rolls around.
This year, if the Red Raiders aren't worried about missing for the first time since 2015, there's at least an acknowledgment they have work to do to solidify a spot.
Tech, though ranked No. 24 in the weekly poll of the Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, is No. 59 where it matters more for postseason purposes: in the RPI. The Red Raiders host Western Athletic Conference leader Sam Houston State (28-18) in a three-game non-conference series that starts at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
"I think we're still in a position where if you take care of what's in front of you, you should be in a good spot," Tadlock said Thursday of his team's postseason chances. "That's probably created by still having a road trip going to West Virginia and still having the Big 12 tournament. So possibly if you had Kansas and somebody else that's lower in the league and not the team leading the league, you might be in a worse situation."
No. 15 West Virginia (34-11, 11-4) leads the Big 12 by 1 1/2 games, though the Mountaineers are three games up in the loss column on No. 26 Oklahoma State (30-14, 11-7) and Kansas State (28-18, 11-7). No. 27 Texas (30-16, 10-8) is a game behind OSU and KSU and a game ahead of Tech (30-15, 9-9) and Oklahoma (25-20, 9-9).
The past three weekends, Tech missed chances to sweep at Oklahoma and at Baylor after winning the first two in both three-game series and then lost two of three at Kansas State.
The Red Raiders' remaining conference series are May 12-14 at West Virginia and May 18-20 against Kansas.
"To me, there's some [potentially helpful] games in front of us," Tadlock said. "What we can control is trying to go win the day that's in front of us, and we're going to do that and kind of see where the chips fall."
The Red Raiders will play five games during the university's six-day final-exams period that started Thursday. All five are against WAC teams, starting with Sam Houston State. The Bearkats are on a five-game win streak that began with a road victory at Texas A&M.
"Sam Houston's got a very competitive team," Tadlock said. "They're leading their league right now. It'll be a good challenge for our guys."
Tech announced Wednesday that its April 25 game at Abilene Christian, suspended on account of weather with ACU leading 6-0 in the fourth inning, will resume at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Dan Law Field/Rip Griffin Park. Then the Red Raiders and the Wildcats will play their regularly scheduled game afterward in doubleheader fashion.
The announcement sparked protest from some Tech fans, suggesting the Red Raiders should have been content to cancel.
Tadlock said he and ACU coach Rick McCarty agreed in the pre-game meeting to complete the game in Lubbock and have a run rule in place should there be a weather-related stoppage.
"To me, if you agree to do something, you need to try to do it, no matter what the score is," Tadlock said. "... Initially, yeah, they want to finish the game worse than we do. Initially. But at the same time, we've never shied away from down 6-0 in the fourth or fifth. You're still going to have to get us out five times."
Tadlock said playing 14 innings on Tuesday could be helpful for his players going into the West Virginia series. Sharing an amusing anecdote, he said he dreamed Wednesday night the Red Raiders came out and had a big inning in the resumption of the suspended game with ACU.
"We hit for about 45 minutes right out of the bat," he said, relating the dream. "I woke up like, 'Man, that was cool.' ... Our first at-bat, (in the dream) going, 'Man, I'm sure glad we played this.' "
In a more serious tone, he concluded, "It's not easy getting us out here. It's just not. Never has been, and I wouldn't think it would be on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Tuesday."
College baseball
Who: Texas Tech vs. Sam Houston State
When: 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday
Where: Dan Law Field/Rip Griffin Park
Records: Sam Houston State 28-18 overall, 18-6 in the Western Athletic Conference; Texas Tech 30-15 overall, 9-9 in the Big 12
Rankings by National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association: Sam Houston State unranked; Texas Tech No. 24
Online streaming: All games on ESPN+
Pitching matchups: Friday, Sam Houston State RHP Coltin Atkinson (7-2, 3.16 earned-run average) vs. Texas Tech LHP Mason Molina (4-2, 3.70). Saturday, Sam Houston State LHP Steven Beard (5-3, 5.34) vs. Texas Tech RHP Trendan Parish (3-0, 4.76). Sunday, Sam Houston State LHP Gavi Coldiron (2-2, 6.25) vs. Texas Tech RHP Zane Petty (2-0, 5.71) or LHP Taber Fast (1-0, 5.08).
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Up in the air: Texas Tech baseball team aims to solidify postseason chances
