Big 12 pitchers shined Friday, but Texas Tech baseball arms didn't hold up their end

The first Friday of Big 12 baseball was a pitchers' showcase nearly everywhere you looked. Everywhere, that is, except in Lubbock.

Texas Tech baseball coach Tim Tadlock showed faith in No. 1 starter Kyle Robinson, kept waiting for him to get out of the fourth inning against No. 22 Texas. The third out never came, and by the time Tadlock came to get the big righthander, the Longhorns had a seven-run inning and were on their way to a 22-8 victory.

"That's really the responsibility of your guy pitching game one," Tadlock said. "To be a starter, you've got to go four or five, six innings. And, to me, once you get two outs, we really thought he could get out of the inning, thought he would be as good as anybody coming out of the bullpen, especially under the conditions, as far as cold, as far as getting a (relief pitcher) hot.

"Just didn't execute any pitches, and Texas swung the bat really good."

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Robinson (2-2) fell behind 4-0 in the first on a three-run homer by Max Belyeu. Tech was back within 4-3, and there were two outs in the Texas fourth with no runs across when six consecutive batters reached.

Peyton Powell delivered a two-run single, Rylan Flores singled and after a mound visit, Robinson gave up a three-run homer to Payton Brown. Two more walks followed and Kimble Schuessler's two-run double made it 11-3 before Tadlock lifted Robinson.

Zane Petty got out of the inning, but gave up a grand slam to Galvan in a five-run fifth.

Texas starter Lebarron Johnson, with 16 runs of support, couldn't get through five innings necessary to get the win.

"His stuff was there," UT coach David Pierce said. "It wasn't his best command."

The Longhorns hit two grand slams and two three-run homers in the game.

"We swung the bat really well as a team today," Brown said. "Had a scouting report (of) good pitcher, throws and executes good strikes. We were going to compete and battle as a team, and he made some mistakes, left us some good pitches and we didn't miss our pitch."

That was a sharp contrast to Big 12 baseball everywhere else on Friday. In the other five games, the winning team scored four runs or fewer. Kansas State's Jacob Frost and Jackson Wentworth no-hit Cincinnati 4-0. Brigham Young and West Virginia split a doubleheader 4-1 and 2-0 with Mountaineers starter Derek Clark and three relievers throwing the four-hit shutout.

Kansas starter Reese Dutton and two relievers threw a four-hitter to down No. 3 TCU 3-1, handing the Horned Frogs their first loss.

Tech's No. 1 starter last year, Mason Molina, transferred to Arkansas and the Red Raiders need some young pitchers to advance. The shellacking Friday night made the team earned-run average 6.26, next to last in the conference.

The game was played in cold conditions: a north wind and a game-time temperature of 40 degrees that dipped to 36 in the ninth inning. Tadlock said "zero" thought was given to postponing the game and making it up as part of a doubleheader Saturday or Sunday, when 2 p.m. games are scheduled.

"I'd hate to say the conditions had anything to do with anything," Tadlock said. "These guys grow up playing when it's cold. They play high-school baseball when it's cold, junior-college baseball when it's cold, so I don't think that had anything to do with it. It sure didn't affect the other team. They played awful good."

Brown acknowledged it was "freezing" on the one hand, "but you can't let the elements control your mentality."

"I think the only thing that keeps baseball players off the field is lightning," said Brown, who drove in five runs and scored three. "When we saw the weather on the apps or online in Lubbock before we left Austin, we were prepared to play a ballgame against a tough team in tough conditions, and we came out, woke up this morning ready to play."

In their Big 12 series two years ago in Lubbock, Tech won the first two games in dramatic fashion with Kurt Wilson stealing home for the game-ending run on a Friday night and hitting a 10th-inning grand slam the next day. Since then, the Longhorns have beaten the Red Raiders five games in a row.

"I don't even look at it like that right now," Pierce said, "because we've got a ballgame tomorrow and Sunday, so that's all we're focusing on."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Big 12 pitchers shined Friday, but Texas Tech baseball arms were lacking