Photo Courtesy of Big12
Arlington, Texas—The Lone Star State Rivals squared off in the final game of Day 1 at the Big 12 Conference Tournament at Globe Life Field. The No. 10 seed Texas Tech University Raiders bested the No. 3 seed University of Texas Longhorns 6-4.
Texas is ranked No. 24 in the Top 25 rankings from May 21.
Texas Tech University was 1-2 against Texas this season going into Tuesday night.
Texas’s pitching staff, between starting pitcher Ace Whitehead and relief pitcher Andre Duplantier, combined to allow eight hits, six earned runs, two walks, and seven strikeouts in the first game of the 2024 Big 12 Conference tournament.
Texas Tech University’s pitching staff allowed nine hits, four earned runs, six walks, and ten strikeouts during Tuesday night’s win.
The Longhorns struck the scoreboard first in the bottom of the first inning as leadoff hitter and of the No. 51 ranked MLBpipeline.com Top 150 Draft Prospect first baseman Jared Thomas launched a solo home run, his 15th of the season into the left-center field bullpen for the first run of the game.
In the top of the second inning, the Red Raiders tied the game up at one as left fielder Drew Woodcox drove a solo home run over the left field wall to make it 1-1.
“Woodcox is great, hitting the home run in the second and talking to him during the last at-bat. We both said this is our time because we kind of struggled from the at-bats before. So I think just having him be a veteran and talk to me before my last at-bat was really helpful knowing that we needed a spark,” Texas Tech third baseman Cade McGee told World Baseball Network during the postgame press conference on Tuesday night.
During the bottom of the third inning, Texas’s offense unleashed from the bottom of their lineup with their nine-hitter second baseman Jack O’Dowd launching a solo home run over the right field wall, his fifth of the year to hook them at 2-1.
“I think that all season we had our backs against the wall a lot. This is a situation that we’ve been in before, and I think we just need to kind of lean on that experience and how comfortable we are with our backs against the wall, alongside trusting what we have done all year on bouncing back from tough losses,” O’Dowd told World Baseball Network during the post-game press conference on Tuesday.
A few batters later, sophomore right fielder Max Belyeu roped a double down the right field line, scoring shortstop Jalin Flores and third baseman Peyton Powell to extend the lead to 4-1.
In the top of the fourth inning, Texas Tech did not back down as right fielder Austin Green smacked a three-run home run over the left field wall, scoring Woodcox and third baseman Cade McGee to tie the game up at four.
Texas junior southpaw starting pitcher Ace Whitehead did not come back out for the top of the sixth inning as head coach David Pierce decided to go to his bullpen to call upon relief pitcher Andre Duplantier II.
Whitehead threw five innings and faced 21 batters while allowing five hits, four earned runs, two walks, one strikeout, and throwing 86 pitches.
Texas Tech head coach Tim Tadlock went to the bullpen in the bottom of the sixth inning to take out junior starting pitcher Kyle Robinson and called on junior southpaw relief pitcher Brendan Lysik.
Robinson went 5.1 innings and allowed seven hits, four earned runs, six walks, and struck out ten batters while throwing 105 pitches.
Texas Tech’s bullpen cleared up in the later innings on Tuesday night and allowed two hits, two walks, and struck out four batters while not allowing an earned run the rest of the game.
In the top of the ninth inning, McGee came up to the plate and looked to tear the hopes of their in-state rival as he launched a two-run home run that hung in the air until the ball doinked off the left field foul pole bringing joy to his teammates on the first base side dugout and scoring first baseman Gavin Kash to take the lead at 6-4.
During the bottom of the ninth inning Texas Tech relief pitcher Josh Sanders attempted to shut the Longhorns offense for the final six outs of the game as he got Texas designated hitter Kimble Schuessler to ground out to McGee as he threw over to Kash for the final out of the game to win 6-4.
Texas’s offense left ten men on base during Tuesday night’s loss to their conference and in-state rival.
Texas is on the brink of elimination at the 2024 Big 12 Conference tournament and will play Cincinnati, the No. 5 seed, on May 22 at 5 p.m. EST on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
Texas Tech will play against No. 2 seed Oklahoma State University at 8:30 p.m. EST on May 22 on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.
Oklahoma State is ranked No. 19 in the country in the Top 25.
