Tuesday, April 12
Amarillo, TX
6 p.m. CT
Texas Tech University
9
vs
14
Oklahoma
No. 4 Tech drops bout with OU in Amarillo
April 12, 2022 | Baseball
AMARILLO, Texas – No. 4 Texas Tech fell 14-9 to Oklahoma on Tuesday night at Hodgetown. The midweek contest coined the Red Dirt Rivalry goes down in the record book as a nonconference contest despite the Sooners being a Big 12 foe.
On an evening multiple runs were expected as high winds pushed upwards of 30 to 40 mph to right-field, the Red Raiders were on the wrong end of the final result after 23 runs crossed the plate between the two teams.
Texas Tech (27-9, 7-2) allowed a season-high 14 runs (prev. 13 vs, Arizona on Feb. 20), and a season-high five home runs (prev. four vs. Texas twice) while also walking a season-high nine batters (prev. six, four occasions). TTU also committed four errors, matching a season-high set at Rice on March 12.
The Red Raiders used eight pitchers out of the bullpen behind starter Andrew Devine who closed a scoreless outing in three innings pitched. He worked for it, needing 70 pitches, and piled up seven OU runners left on base during his start.
Tech owned a 2-0 lead when Devine exited as Owen Washburn kicked off the scoring on Tuesday night with a two-run rope over the right-field fence (watch). In relief, Austin Becker took the mound in the fourth and the Sooners took the first pitch and made it their first home run of the five they'd hit. Whether it was a home run in the fourth, walks (1st, 2nd, 6th), an error (3rd), or a hit-by-pitch (5th), the Sooners' leadoff batter reached base in the first six innings, pushing the staff to limit the damage in each frame.
Oklahoma scored four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead and piled on four more in the top of the fifth to grab an 8-2 advantage.
Tech answered in the home half of the fifth with three to cut the deficit to three, 8-5, but the Oklahoma offense answered the next half-inning with three to push its lead back to six, 11-5.
The Red Raiders fought back late, scoring the next four runs, plating one in the bottom of the sixth and three more in the bottom of the seventh. Kurt Wilson cut the lead to two, 11-9, with his eighth home run of the season (watch) in the seventh.
But just as Oklahoma did earlier in the game when Tech cut the lead to three and OU answered with three runs the next half-inning, the Sooners struck for three runs in the top of the eighth to widen the gap again, 14-9.
Quotable
Head Coach Tim Tadlock
On what to take from this game, and on to TCU…
"The simplest thing is every day you have to earn the right to win. No one is going to give you anything. There isn't one baseball team that isn't going to make you earn the right to win. That's across the board. All baseball games start 0-0, you got to win innings, win pitches, that's the beauty of this game."
On the offense…
"We just didn't do a whole lot the first four innings. I don't think it's from a lack of effort or lack of preparation, it's more give credit where credit is due and it's to those guys pitching."
On the pitching…
"Sometimes you walk guys, sometimes you don't. Really tough environment to pitch in tonight … all those guys (nine pitchers) needed some work, that's a good thing."
Up Next
Texas Tech keeps the show on the road for a three-game conference series at TCU. The series spans Thursday, Friday and Saturday due to the Easter holiday.
On an evening multiple runs were expected as high winds pushed upwards of 30 to 40 mph to right-field, the Red Raiders were on the wrong end of the final result after 23 runs crossed the plate between the two teams.
Texas Tech (27-9, 7-2) allowed a season-high 14 runs (prev. 13 vs, Arizona on Feb. 20), and a season-high five home runs (prev. four vs. Texas twice) while also walking a season-high nine batters (prev. six, four occasions). TTU also committed four errors, matching a season-high set at Rice on March 12.
The Red Raiders used eight pitchers out of the bullpen behind starter Andrew Devine who closed a scoreless outing in three innings pitched. He worked for it, needing 70 pitches, and piled up seven OU runners left on base during his start.
Tech owned a 2-0 lead when Devine exited as Owen Washburn kicked off the scoring on Tuesday night with a two-run rope over the right-field fence (watch). In relief, Austin Becker took the mound in the fourth and the Sooners took the first pitch and made it their first home run of the five they'd hit. Whether it was a home run in the fourth, walks (1st, 2nd, 6th), an error (3rd), or a hit-by-pitch (5th), the Sooners' leadoff batter reached base in the first six innings, pushing the staff to limit the damage in each frame.
Oklahoma scored four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 4-2 lead and piled on four more in the top of the fifth to grab an 8-2 advantage.
Tech answered in the home half of the fifth with three to cut the deficit to three, 8-5, but the Oklahoma offense answered the next half-inning with three to push its lead back to six, 11-5.
The Red Raiders fought back late, scoring the next four runs, plating one in the bottom of the sixth and three more in the bottom of the seventh. Kurt Wilson cut the lead to two, 11-9, with his eighth home run of the season (watch) in the seventh.
But just as Oklahoma did earlier in the game when Tech cut the lead to three and OU answered with three runs the next half-inning, the Sooners struck for three runs in the top of the eighth to widen the gap again, 14-9.
Quotable
Head Coach Tim Tadlock
On what to take from this game, and on to TCU…
"The simplest thing is every day you have to earn the right to win. No one is going to give you anything. There isn't one baseball team that isn't going to make you earn the right to win. That's across the board. All baseball games start 0-0, you got to win innings, win pitches, that's the beauty of this game."
On the offense…
"We just didn't do a whole lot the first four innings. I don't think it's from a lack of effort or lack of preparation, it's more give credit where credit is due and it's to those guys pitching."
On the pitching…
"Sometimes you walk guys, sometimes you don't. Really tough environment to pitch in tonight … all those guys (nine pitchers) needed some work, that's a good thing."
Up Next
Texas Tech keeps the show on the road for a three-game conference series at TCU. The series spans Thursday, Friday and Saturday due to the Easter holiday.