MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The No. 4 Texas Tech baseball team recorded a 1-0 victory over West Virginia in the series opener on Saturday afternoon at Monongalia County Stadium.
The Red Raiders (38-12, 12-7) and the Mountaineers (26-18, 10-9) were postponed on Friday night because of severe weather in the area, which was the second cancelation of the week for Tech. It was the first shutout win of the year for the Red Raiders.
Sophomore lefty Erikson Lanning got the start for the Red Raiders in the first game of the doubleheader, putting together his best outing of the season. The Woodstock, Georgia, native tossed 6.0 innings of shutout baseball, giving up only two hits, walking two and striking out one. Lanning improved to 3-1 with the win.
It was the third time this season Tech’s pitching staff had allowed only two hits in a game and the second time during conference play.
He gave way to another left-hander, junior Jacob Patterson, who finished off the final three frames, ringing up four batters without allowing a hit, to earn his first save of the year.
After four scoreless frames to begin Saturday’s game, the Red Raiders pushed across the first and only run of the afternoon in the top of the fifth. With one away, Cody Farhat laced a triple past the diving right field and all the way to the wall in right-center field to move into scoring position. With the infield in, Grant Little chopped a double over the leaping third baseman to easily score Farhat for the run.
Lanning & Patterson combined to keep the Mountaineers off the base path for most of the game after the fourth inning. After a two-out hit from Hill, West Virginia failed to post another knock, while reaching base only twice via walks.
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In game two of the Saturday doubleheader the Red Raiders experienced another rain delay for the second time in two weekends, and used it to their advantage.
Texas Tech (39-12, 13-7 Big 12) trailed West Virginia (26-19, 10-10 Big 12) 2-0 after the first inning, and 3-1 when the Red Raiders went into a rain delay in the top of the fifth inning.
However, Tech scored three runs over the final five innings to knock off West Virginia, 4-3, and take the series in two games.
The run started in the fifth inning, after Tech junior outfielder Ryan Long doubled to left center field to score fellow junior second baseman Michael Davis and cut WVU’s lead to 3-2.
Then in the eighth inning, with runners on the corners and two outs, Tech junior shortstop Orlando Garcia scored on a wild pitch from WVU’s freshman right-handed pitcher Ryan McDonald, to make it 3-3.
And in the ninth inning, Tech’s sophomore center fielder Cody Farhat knocked a single up the middle to score Garcia once more, and give Tech the lead for good 4-3.
The Red Raiders will be back out for game three against West Virginia at 10 a.m. CST from Morgantown, WV, with a chance to sweep the series. The game will be live-streamed through “wvusports.com.”
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