Texas Tech baseball clinches Big 12 tournament bid with rainout at OSU
The Texas Tech baseball team clinched a spot in the Big 12 tournament on Sunday without playing.
The Red Raiders' series finale at No. 20 Oklahoma State was rained out and won't be made up.
That locks in Tech as the No. 10 seed for the conference tournament and a first-round game at 7:30 p.m. May 21 at Globe Life Field in Arlington. Tech (30-22, 12-17) would finish tied for ninth with Central Florida (31-17, 12-14) if UCF loses its remaining conference games, but the Knights won the head-to-head series between the two.
Tech is now assured of finishing with a better conference record than Baylor (21-29, 9-18), its chief competition for the 10th spot in the 10-team field.
Tech has lost eight Big 12 games in a row: three at Kansas, three at home to No. 17 Oklahoma and two at Oklahoma State. Tech's skid came after the Red Raiders swept a series from West Virginia when the Mountaineers were ranked.
While the other dozen Big 12 teams all have a conference series left next weekend, the Red Raiders finish the regular season with games in Tempe, Arizona. Tech takes on Arizona State (28-24) at 8:30 p.m. CDT Thursday, Nevada-Las Vegas (25-24) at 3 p.m. Friday and Arizona State at 8:30 p.m. Friday.
Tech-OSU game one: Oklahoma State blasts 7 HRs, routs Texas Tech baseball in series opener
Tech-OSU game two: Texas Tech baseball's Kyle Robinson has career pitching night, Oklahoma State wins anyway
Who might Texas Tech baseball face in its Big 12 tournament opener?
Tech has five possible opponents in the first round of the Big 12 tournament. Texas (32-20, 17-10) and West Virginia (31-19, 17-10) remain tied for third place after both won Sunday. The Longhorns and Mountaineers are one-half game behind Oklahoma State (34-16, 17-9) and one game ahead of Cincinnati (30-21, 16-11).
Kansas (29-18, 15-12) also could get to the No. 3 seed.
The last regular-season series have Oklahoma at Cincinnati, Oklahoma State at Houston, Kansas at Texas, West Virginia at TCU, UCF at Baylor and Brigham Young at Kansas State.
What do the Red Raiders have to do to make the NCAA tournament?
Texas Tech almost certainly has to win the Big 12 tournament and the automatic bid to advance to the NCAA tournament. In addition to their second-division finish in the Big 12, the Red Raiders are 54th in the RPI ranking, not a favorable position.
The Red Raiders have made seven consecutive NCAA regionals and hosted regionals the first five of those years, starting in 2016.
Their late-season swoon jeopardizes that streak.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech baseball clinches Big 12 tournament bid with rainout at OSU
