Tech rallies past TCU, wins series
Perhaps the best way for the Texas Tech baseball team to keep its head above water in the challenging first month of the Big 12 baseball schedule is to play well at home.
So far, so good in that regard.
The 19th-ranked Red Raiders spotted No. 27 TCU three runs in the first inning Sunday and rallied for a 10-5 victory in the series finale at Dan Law Field/Rip Griffin Park.
TCU starter Cam Brown was the Big 12 pitcher of the week after throwing a two-hit shutout the previous Sunday against Kansas. Brown (2-1) lasted 3 1/3 innings against Tech and was charged with six runs, sending his earned-run average from 2.08 to 3.48.
"He was a really good arm — had a really good fastball and a really tight slider," Tech leadoff batter Nolen Hester said. "As soon as we see that, we have to heighten our approach even more to really try to drive him out of the game and run his pitch count up, and I think we did a really good job of that early on."
Tech (20-9, 4-5) took two of three from TCU (17-11, 5-4), just like it did two weeks ago against No. 13 Oklahoma State (22-7, 6-3) in the Red Raiders' first conference series, also at home. The Red Raiders would be in great shape in the conference race had they not gotten swept in between at No. 24 Texas (20-9, 4-2).
Tech and its first four conference series opponents — the Red Raiders go to Oklahoma after a non-conference series this coming week — were picked in the top five in the preseason Big 12 coaches poll.
A day after TCU banged five home runs and five doubles in a 10-7 triumph, Trendan Parish and three relievers limited the Horned Frogs to five hits, only three over the last eight innings, and just one for extra bases.
"I think baseball's a day-to-day thing," winning pitcher Ryan Free said. "I think our bullpen went out there and shoved. I think it could've gone any way. It's just baseball. Stuff happens."
Free (3-3) yielded an unearned run on two hits in three innings of relief. Brandon Beckel got his second save, working around a leadoff walk in the eighth and a two-out infield single in the ninth. He struck out three.
Tensions seemed on edge in Saturday's game, during which both dugouts were warned, and that carried over to the start of Sunday's game when both were warned again in the third inning.
Plate umpire A.J. Wendel ejected TCU 3-hole hitter Brayden Taylor after Taylor took a called third strike to end the fourth inning and tossed TCU coach Kirk Saarloos for something Saarloos said after Wendel broke up a mound visit in the sixth.
Tadlock came out and objected after the dugouts were warned early.
"I'm just a 'You don't call fouls in the driveway' kind of guy," he said. "Again, I don't know that we're supposed to talk about the exact thing. The umpires are just trying to do the right thing for the day, and I would say they did."
Tech center fielder Gage Harrelson had three-hit performances in all three games of the series and finished a home run short of the cycle Sunday. The freshman from Georgia is 11 for 22 in his past four games. Right fielder Owen Washburn went 2 for 4 with three runs batted in.'
"He's really got good bat-to-ball skills, really good hand-eye coordination," Tadlock said of Harrelson. "He's a really good runner. A lot of times the guys that are runners might not slump as much as a guy that doesn't run, because he gets some infield hits, even though I don't think he's had a whole bunch of them."
The Red Raiders erased their 3-0 deficit with two runs in the second and three in the third. In the second, Washburn singled home a run and Hudson White came through with a sacrifice fly.
Kevin Bazzell doubled home the tying run in the third, Gavin Kash doubled home the go-ahead run and Washburn's RBI groundout made it 5-3.
Hester hit his first home run of the season in the sixth, an opposite-field shot to left that made the lead 7-5. Kash added an RBI single in that inning. Tech tacked on two in the eighth as Bazzell singled, Austin Green doubled him home and Washburn scored Green with a sacrifice fly.
Tech hosts Abilene Christian, 22-6 with a six-game win streak, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tadlock said he probably will start one of two freshmen, righthander Zane Petty (1-0, 7.88) or lefthander Zach Erdman (1-0, 1.86).
TEXAS TECH 10, TCU 5
TCU 300 011 000 — 5 5 1
Texas Tech 023 102 02x — 10 15 2
Brown, Stoutenborough (4), Rodriguez (6), Feser (9) and Bowen; Parish, McGarrh (5), Free (5), Beckel (8) and White. W—Free (3-3). L—Brown (2-1). Sv—Beckel (2). 2B—TCU, Taylor (6); Texas Tech, Bazzell (15), Kash (9), Harrelson (12), Green (6). 3B—Texas Tech, Harrelson (2). HR—Texas Tech, Hester (1). Records: TCU 17-11, 5-4; Texas Tech 20-9, 4-5.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech rallies past TCU, wins series
