Takeaways from Texas Tech's 8-1 loss to Oklahoma State

ARLINGTON — Texas Tech hoped to make a short day of it Saturday at the Big 12 tournament, but Oklahoma State wouldn't have it.

OSU chased Tech starter Zane Petty with six runs early and beat the Red Raiders 8-1 in a bracket final at Globe Life Field. The outcome left both teams with one loss in the tournament and forced the if-necessary game at 4 p.m. Saturday. Texas Tech is 39-20, Oklahoma State 39-17

Petty (3-1) retired the first two batters in the second inning before giving up back-to-back doubles to Colin Brueggemann and David Mendham, the latter a fisted blooper that fell in shallow left for an RBI. Marcus Brown singled home Mendham.

The Cowboys blew it open in the next two innings. Nolan Schubart singled home two runs in a four-run third, and Tyler Schubert greeted Jase Lopez with a two-run single in the fourth.

Here are quick takeaways from the game:

Cowboys win a battle of freshmen pitchers

Oklahoma State lefthander Brennan Phillips went six innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking one and striking out seven. Phillips (2-1) came in with a 12.15 earned-run average in nine appearances, five being starts, and 30 hits allowed in 20 innings.

But he pitched like the guy who was the Tulsa World's Oklahoma high school player of the year each of the past two years. Phillips was on the 2021 USA Baseball U18 national team in 2021 and led Owasso to the Oklahoma Class 6A state title last year.

Zane Petty has credentials of his own — Class 5A all-state and a Milwaukee Brewers 13th-round draft pick last year. Petty, bumped up in the Tech rotation because of an injury to Trendan Parish was rested and ready, but he didn't make it through three innings. In 2 1/3, he was charged with six runs on six hits.

One of the runs was unearned as catcher Hudson White dropped a throw to the plate on a shallow fly ball to second baseman Austin Green, allowing a run to score.

At least Nolen Hester extended his streak

Texas Tech's pesky leadoff batter came to the plate in the eighth inning 0 for 3, at stake his streak of 44 consecutive games reaching base. Shortstop Marcus Brown couldn't cleanly pick a short hop, and the official scorer ruled it a hit, keeping Hester's streak alive.

Hester's still hot, considering he reached base nine times in 11 plate appearances during the Red Raiders' first two games of the tournament.

At least the Red Raiders didn't get shut out

That hasn't happened since a season-ending 9-0 loss to Stanford in a 2021 super regional at Dan Law Field.

Hudson White homered to left field leading off the fifth inning. It was the 10th of the season for the sophomore catcher.

The Saturday before, White had a grand slam and a two-run homer in a regular-season finale against Kansas, a 15-1 Tech victory.

OSU breaks Tech's hex for the time being

Though Texas Tech and Oklahoma State have been fiercely competitive in recent years, playing a bunch of close, intense games against one another, the Red Raiders have had the upper hand. In winning two out of three in the regular-season series between the two teams, Tech moved to 16-3 in the past 19 games between the two teams.

This one didn't adhere to the trend. It was neither close, nor competitive, nor did the Red Raiders prevail in the end.

Instead, when the Red Raiders fell behind 8-0 after four innings, Tech coach Tim Tadlock looked ahead to the second game and began to save arms and legs. Starters Gage Harrelson, Austin Green, Gavin Kash Dillon Carter and Tracer Lopez all came out of the game.

Tech wound up with Taber Fast in right field, Drew Woodcox in center field, Will Burns at shortstop, Ty Coleman at second base and Damian Bravo, well, everywhere. Bravo entered the game in right field and moved to center field and first base.

Which begs a question:

How many positions can Damian Bravo play?

Better question: Might Damian Bravo someday play all nine positions in one game? He played right field, center and first base in the game, has pitched effectively this season and played middle infield in high school.

Then again, the versatile Kurt Wilson, who pitched, played outfield and wound up Tech's starting shortstop as a senior last season might have been able to play all nine in a game. But Tadlock never tried it with him.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Takeaways from Texas Tech baseball's 8-1 loss to Oklahoma State