The Texas Tech baseball team’s season ended on Tuesday, May 19, with a first-round loss to Brigham Young at the Big 12 tournament in Surprise, Arizona.
The last game looked like a lot of the others this season. The Red Raiders had plenty of offense. Being painfully short on pitching, it didn’t matter. BYU erased an early four-run deficit and run-ruled Tech 18-8 in seven innings at Surprise Stadium.
The Cougars hit five home runs, two each by third baseman Easton Jones and catcher Ridge Erickson. Leading 15-8 going to the home half of the seventh, the Cougars brought the run-rule to bear against Adam Hayes with Ryder Robinson’s run-scoring triple and Jones’ game-ending two-run homer.
No. 9 seed BYU (28-27) will play No. 8 seed Baylor (28-26) at 6:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday, May 20.
Tech finished 27-28, its second year in a row below .500. That last happened from 2008 through 2010, when the Red Raiders had three consecutive losing seasons.
Tech left fielder Logan Hughes hit his 18th home run, Kyeler Thompson and Tracer Lopez had two hits apiece and Lopez drove in three runs. The Red Raiders took a 5-1 lead in the third inning on Lopez’s two-run triple, Hughes’ two-run homer and Matt Quintanar’s RBI double.
BYU overwhelmed the Red Raiders, though, scoring in every inning after the first.
The Cougars had 12 extra-base hits. They started the comeback with six runs off Logan Addison, who pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief. BYU broke an 8-8 tie with a seven-run sixth against Logan Bevis (1-2) and Jacob Rogers. The uprising included a Robinson RBI single, a Bryker Hurdsman two-run single, a Keoni Painter two-run triple and an Erickson two-run homer.
It was the 23rd time this season Tech’s allowed double-digit runs. The Red Raiders were 3-20 in those games. They finished with a team-earned run average of 7.92.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech baseball season ends with Big 12 tournament loss to BYU
Reporting by Don Williams, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
