In a program known for slugging, the Texas Tech baseball team finds itself in an uncharacteristic streak of seven consecutive games without a home run.
On Sunday, April 12, though, the Red Raiders might have been just as well served by a smattering of timely singles.
Tech stranded seven runners in scoring position, and No. 19 West Virginia broke open a low-scoring game late to win 10-2 in a Big 12 series finale at Dan Law Field/Rip Griffin Park.
Tech (20-15, 6-9) failed to capitalize on effective pitching the first seven innings from Adam Hayes and Connor Mohan. WVU (24-8, 10-5) won two of three in the series, getting a strong start Sunday from Chansen Cole (5-2), who pitched into the ninth.
“I think Cole threw the ball really good,” Tech coach Tim Tadlock said. “Thought he mixed really well. … Just a guy that commanded three pitches, locating, and pitched really good.”
The sophomore righthander struck out Linkin Garcia with runners at second and third in the first inning; coaxed Coleman Ryan to ground out with runners at the corners in the fourth; got Robin Villeneuve to ground out with a runner at third in the sixth and retired Caden Ferraro and Connor Shouse with a runner in scoring position in the seventh.
Those were all tense moments, because it was a 3-1 game before the Mountaineers scored three runs in the eighth and four in the ninth.
Cole, a transfer from Division II Newberry, scattered eight hits and two walks. WVU coach Steve Sabins lifted him at 115 pitches after Tech’s first two batters reached in the ninth.
“I think today was his best outing of the year,” Sabins said. “You had the wind blowing out against the best offense in the league and he was able to induce a lot of ground balls. He’s a sinker, slider, changeup guy, and he was able to do what he does.”
West Virginia won Friday’s series opener 12-8, breaking a 6-6 tie in the ninth. Tech won Saturday’s second game 4-1 with pitchers Jackson Burns and Logan Bevis setting the tone.
“We were able to break the game open on Friday and today,” Sabins said, “but I don’t think that was representative of how close the games were.
“We had exceptional starting pitching all weekend and (against) the best hitting team in the league in Texas Tech, for our starters to do what they were able to do kind of shows what they’re capable of.”
Tech visits Abilene Christian at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, and hosts Incarnate Word at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15. Then it’s off to Utah for a three-game series Friday through Sunday, April 17-19.
Here are key developments from the series.
Texas Tech baseball in a power outage
Tech’s last home run came from Caden Ferraro on March 31 against ACU. The oddity of the seven-game homerless streak is that six were home games in a hitters’ park. It started with Houston pitchers not allowing a long ball in the Big 12 series the previous weekend.
“It’s probably the pitching we’re facing,” Tadlock said. “Guys have done a good job pitching, probably pitching us a little tougher.”
Tech’s 3-4 during the stretch, averaging 7.3 runs per game.
Jackson Burns keeps getting better
Tech’s redshirt freshman righthander went 7 2/3 innings on Saturday, allowing six hits, no walks and five strikeouts.
“Nasty,” Sabins said. “That kid was really good, and he commanded his fastball and basically kept us off-balance the entire time. The kid’s got a really bright future.”
Adam Hayes, Connor Mohan give Texas Tech baseball a chance
Hayes, normally a midweek starter, bumped Mohan from the weekend rotation this series. They wound up in the same game Sunday. Hayes worked around a lot of traffic, allowing nine hits in four innings, but leaving with only a 3-0 deficit.
Mohan held the Mountaineers scoreless from the fifth through the seventh before he found trouble in the eighth. Three of the first four batters reached against him, and all wound up scoring. Tadlock said Mohan “was really sharp up until the last inning.”
“Thought Connor was considerably better,” he said. “It didn’t seem like they were on time on him like some other people.”
Coleman Ryan keeping himself in the lineup
Sophomore shortstop Coleman Ryan has started the past five Big 12 games and hit safely in four of the five. That’s after he played little for most of the season.
“Coleman’s forced that hand to me,” Tadlock said. “That’s what’s cool to me, is he’s played good enough to me that, hey, he needs to play shortstop. I don’t think the lineup looks as offensive that way, but you can look at (Saturday’s game) and go, ‘Need to play good defense,’ so you’re kind of picking your poison a little bit.”
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: 4 talking points from Texas Tech baseball series loss to West Virginia
Reporting by Don Williams, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
