Texas Tech baseball enters its final regular-season series with momentum on its side. The Red Raiders are 4-1 in their last five games. Logan Hughes was named co-Big 12 player of the week. Arizona dropped two of three last week. SO, the Red Raiders are one Big 12 victory and/or one loss by Arizona away from officially punching their ticket to the Big 12 tournament. However, this will not be an easy task.
Cincinnati is currently ranked 18th in the nation and has won its last five series. Additionally, the Bearcats do not give up leads late in the game. This season, Cincinnati is 29-5 when leading or tied after six innings. What will this Texas Tech baseball team need to do against this challenging Big 12 opponent?
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The Bearcats are fast and can pitch
Through 53 games, Cincinnati has had its best team ERA since ’18. Their 4.97 team ERA ranks third in the Big 12. The Bearcats keep offenses limited by creating a ton of swings and misses. So far, Cincinnati’s pitching staff has recorded 499 strikeouts. That eclipses last year’s school record of 496.
Nate Taylor leads this Cincinnati pitching staff. Both the Cincinnati single-season and career strikeout records are within striking distance for Taylor. He needs six and 20 strikeouts to break the respective records. Taylor has been especially sharp at home this season. In his six home starts, he has a 2.03ERA, 60 Ks, and allowed only nine walks. His 104 total strikeouts this season are eight nationally.
ON offense, they burn up the base paths. Cincinnati has 111 stolen baes (fifth among P4 schools). They have only been caught stealing 18 times, which translates to a success rate of 84% when they attempt to swipe a bag. The good news for the Red Raiders is that Cincinnati is not elite at putting the ball in play. They rank 52nd in team batting average, 48th in runs, and 48th in on-base percentage.
Ranked opponents have been problematic for Texas Tech
The Red Raider baseball team is only 2-5 against teams that were ranked in the top 25 when they faced them (four teams in total). The offense, which has averaged over 8.8 runs per game (7th best nationally), averaged only 5.7 runs in those seven games. Meanwhile, the pitching staff yielded an average of eight runs a game, which is more than their season ERA of 7.54 (266th out of 304 teams).
The secret to success on the road for the Red Raiders is not revolutionary. Just look at last week. The bats must remain hot, and the pitching needs to put it together for at least one game. Certainly, a series win against a ranked opponent could springboard this team to a run in the Big 12 tournament. However, this team hasn’t shown consistency against the better teams on its schedule. The aim needs to be securing another week in the season, with any additional wins being a bonus.
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This article originally appeared on Red Raiders Wire: Texas Tech vs Cincinnati: 1 win away from Big 12 Tournament berth
Reporting by Andrew McCleary, Red Raiders Wire / Red Raiders Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
