By the time the Texas Tech baseball team suffered its fourth consecutive Big 12 loss with a runner doubled off first base in the ninth inning, Tim Tadlock was long gone. Oh, not long gone exactly — long out of sight.
The Tech coach watched most of the Red Raiders’ 8-6 loss to Houston on Thursday, April 2, from the home team building down the left-field line at Dan Law Field/Rip Griffin Park. Plate umpire John Brammer ejected him for arguing a called third strike on Caden Ferraro that ended the second inning.
Tadlock popped out, angrily confronted Brammer and trailed him halfway toward third base while another crew member intervened.
“It was a buildup,” Tadlock said. “I thought I kept my mouth shut for two innings.”
Ferraro, with a .424 average and 21 walks to 18 strikeouts, generally manages the strike zone well. Tadlock said he saw later that the called third strike was accurate.
“When something like that (a disputed strike) happens with (Ferraro) up there, he’ll give you an honest answer,” Tadlock said. “He was wrong tonight. The pitch was in the box. It was there, so what do you do? At the time, when your player’s giving you that read, you go to bat for your player.”
The ejection can carry an additional game’s suspension, but a Tech athletics spokesman said Friday that Tadlock will not be.
For the Red Raiders, it was a frustrating night all around.
Tech (17-12, 4-6 in the Big 12) never led. Houston (14-14, 2-8) snapped a six-game conference losing streak while dealing the Red Raiders another loss to go with their being swept last weekend at TCU.
The Cougars used the long ball to give Lukas Pirko (3-3) his second loss in a row. Riley Jackson pulled a solo homer in the second, when six batters in a row reached in a three-run inning. In the fifth, cleanup hitter Xavier Perez hit an opposite-field, three-run shot to right, making it 6-0.
Matt Quintanar’s two-run double touched off a three-run bottom of the inning, but Houston’s Cade Climie hit an opposite-field, two-run blast to right-center in the seventh off Logan Bevis.
With Tech down 8-6 in the ninth, Jesse Rusinek was at first after a one-out single when Robin Villeneuve lifted a fly to shallow left. Blake Fields charged in for a running catch and threw out Rusinek, trying to retreat to first.
“I think it was a really tough read,” Tadlock said. “I really do. I think the guy was playing really deep. He almost gave the impression that he didn’t get a good jump on it and that the ball might fall. It’s one of those ones where if it falls, you’ve got to get to second.
“I thought the guy made a good play to catch it on the run and then made the throw on the run … and threw a strike on the run. … He had to throw it accurate to get him out. If it was off-line at all, he (Rusinek) was safe.”
Tech players and Tadlock didn’t emerge from the locker room for half an hour, much longer than usual before a post-game press conference.
“It’s just one of those deals, you talk a little more than normal,” Tadlock said. “What was the message? Show up and be ready to go tomorrow.”
The series resumes at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 3, and at noon on Saturday, April 4. Tadlock was asked, given his ejection in the first game, if tensions could linger through the series.
“No, no. Brammer and I go way back,” he said. “No, it’ll be fine, I would think. It’s baseball. Happens.”
This story has been updated with Tim Tadlock’s status for the remainder of the series.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Tim Tadlock ejected, Texas Tech baseball loses Houston series opener
Reporting by Don Williams, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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