In sport one of the Lubbock Super Regional, it was the Texas Tech baseball team that wilted underneath the report 108-degree West Texas heat, not the staff from northern California. In reality, in Friday’s 15-3 Stanford victory, the dwelling-standing Pink Raiders were being hardly ever definitely in the recreation.
Right off the bat, the Cardinal would plate 4 runs off of Pink Raider starter Chase Hampton before the residence group at any time got to swing the bat, not that it would issue with Stanford ace Brendan Beck in top rated sort.
The senior would dominate the Purple Raider lineup for most of the afternoon by portray the strike zone with his assortment of four pitches. Over the course of 114 pitches and 7.1 innings of operate, he would allow only two operates on six hits even though placing out 13 batters.
It was just one of the most dominant postseason pitching performances in the history of Dan Regulation Discipline and 1 that has now pushed the Red Raiders to the brink of elimination from the NCAA Match.
“I considered Brendan Beck was exceptional,” Texas Tech head coach Tim Tadlock said following the activity. “He was ahead in the rely the complete day. 110 pitches in, he’s still ahead in the count, nonetheless held his stuff had remarkable command of two breaking balls and a fastball…He just kinda showed you why he’s the PAC 12 Pitcher of the Calendar year.”
For the day Tech would muster just seven hits. And if there was a shiny place for the Crimson Raiders, it would have been Cole Stillwell.
Belting a solo homer in the 4th inning, he briefly gave the sellout group some hope of a comeback by chopping the Cardinal direct to 4-1. Then, in the base of the 6th, he would push house Jace Jung with a solitary to slice the deficit to 6-2.
However, the Crimson Raiders would under no circumstances come any closer as Beck would not surrender a different run. And by the time Nate Rombach blasted a solo shot in the ninth inning, all hope of a Purple Raider comeback had prolonged since melted in the oppressive warmth of the day.
Nearly as warm as the temperature on Friday were being the Stanford bats. The Cardinal scored the most runs of any Texas Tech baseball opponent in 2021 and tied the mark for the most runs at any time scored at Rip Griffin by a postseason foe.
What is more, this reduction was just the second-ever sustained by the Pink Raiders in the opening activity of a Super Regional. But the very good news is that the other instance, 2016 when Tadlock’s group fell to East Carolina in sport one, resulted in a a few-sport Red Raider collection victory.
To make that transpire yet again this yr, Tech will turn to starter Patrick Monteverde on Saturday. He’ll have to fare better than Hampton did on Friday.
Struggling his first reduction as a Crimson Raider, the genuine freshman pitched only 3.2 innings permitting four runs on five hits around the course of 74 labored pitches. It was the initial time since March 15 that he failed to pitch at least 4 innings in a start off and the first time Tech has misplaced a game in 1 of his seven commences on the year.
His day got off to a rocky starting when Stanford next baseman Tim Tawa homered down the still left-industry line. But nonetheless, Hampton would battle back again to get the subsequent hitter to shift inside of 1 out of having out of the inning with nominal harm.
Nonetheless, a double, a walk, and three straight singles would turn the initial Cardinal at-bat into a recreation-defining half-inning. That took the life out of the potential crowd and gave Beck much more than adequate breathing home.
Now, the Pink Raiders deal with a do-or-die recreation at 2 pm on Saturday. The fantastic information is that Tech is 24-6 at dwelling on the 12 months and has not shed back-to-back again video games at Rip Griffin Park all season. But with Friday’s collection-opening loss, the road to Omaha now gets all the additional challenging to climb. Now, it is time to see how the Purple Raiders reply when their backs are to the wall.
