Texas Tech baseball coach Tim Tadlock said this week that Ryan Free, the team’s most experienced pitcher, is going to miss a lengthy stretch with a foot injury he suffered in mid-March.
Free was using crutches and wearing an orthopedic boot after the Red Raiders’ 15-4 victory over Abilene Christian on Tuesday, March 31, at Dan Law Field/Rip Griffin Park. Tadlock stopped short of saying the lefthander from Frisco will miss the rest of the season but said he will be out for “a while” and his return is “not anytime real soon.”
“I would say we’re going to need to play late [in the season] for him to really make an impact,” Tadlock said.
Texas Tech (17-11, 4-5 in the Big 12) hosts Houston (13-14, 1-8) in a three-game Big 12 series this week. The games are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 2; 2 p.m. Friday, April 3; and noon Saturday, April 4. The series starts one day earlier than usual so as not to play on Easter Sunday.
Free is 3-1 with a 6.75 earned-run average in six appearances, all out of the bullpen. His 50 career appearances for the Red Raiders are most among active Tech pitchers.
The 2026 season is his sixth in college baseball. He spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons at Grayson College, 2023 and 2024 at Texas Tech and 2025 at Angelo State before returning to the Red Raiders this season.
Free last pitched March 14 in a home series against Kansas, missing the past two Big 12 series at Arizona and TCU. In Free’s absence, freshman Jesse Rusinek and sophomore Jorden Espinoza have been the lefthanded options out of the bullpen. Rusinek’s made four pitching appearances since mid-March and Espinoza three.
“You’re down a left-handed pitcher,” Tadlock said, “but since he’s been down, we’ve pitched Jesse more, and so we kind of like the way that looks also.”
The bullpen already was without a key piece since the first weekend of the season after righthander Parker Hutyra suffered a season-ending arm injury.
A Tech athletics spokesman also confirmed that infielder Luke Orfi and corner infielder/outfielder Hollis Porter are no longer with the team. Neither of the first-year transfers had played since late February. Porter was a much-anticipated transfer portal addition after he had a 21-homer, 64-RBIs season for Maryland in 2025.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech baseball loses experienced lefty Ryan Free for long term
Reporting by Don Williams, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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