The No. 8 Texas Tech baseball team fell in the series opener against No. 18 Texas, 12-6, on Friday night at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.

The Red Raiders (34-13, 11-8) couldn’t overcome a six-run third inning by the Longhorns (32-17, 13-6), despite a pair of multi-run innings to chip away at the lead. Tech finished the night with six runs on 12 hits, with three Red Raiders tallied multi-hit bids at the plate, as freshman Gabe Holt had three in the contest.

Junior right-handed pitcher Davis Martin moved to 6-4 on the year after allowing seven runs on nine hits, while walking three and striking out four over 6.0 innings.

Tech struck first in their half of the opening frame for an early 1-0 lead. Holt kicked off the inning with a single, then moved to third on a failed pickoff attempt, setting up sophomore Josh Jung for an RBI groundout for the first run of the game. The Longhorns answered in their next trip to the plate on an RBI single from Shaw, bringing in Reynolds after a double to knot the game at one.

In the third inning, UT took the lead with six runs for a 7-1 advantage. Back to-back knocks, a triple by Ellis & a single from Clemens gave the Longhorns the lead. After a walk to the next batter, Hamilton hit a three-run homer to clear the bases and push the score to 5-1. Texas would repeat the sequence with a walk and home run by Petrinsky to make it a 7-1 game.

The Red Raiders got two back in the bottom half of the inning to cut the deficit to 7-3. Rheams cracked his team-leading 12th homer of the year into the visiting bullpen, a two-run shot after Little reached on a fielder’s choice. The dinger gave Tech 61 this season, the most by a Red Raider club since the 2010 squad hit 61 nine seasons ago.

A solo homer from Clemens in the seventh after three scoreless frames gave Texas an 8-3 lead. However, Tech plated three in the bottom of the inning to pull within two runs. A lead-off double from Holt turned into a run on an error by Clemens on a grounder from sophomore Brian Klein. Then, sophomore Grant Little shot a double down the left field line to score Klein from first, followed by a fielder’s choice later in the frame from junior Cameron Warren to make it 8-6.

Texas pushed the lead back to three after a sacrifice bunt from Shaw was fulfilled by a wild pitch, scoring Petrinsky after his lead-off double to make it 9-6. In the ninth, UT plated three more on a solo home run by Clemens, a sacrifice fly from Hamilton and a wild pitch to bring the score to its final at 12-6.

The Red Raiders return to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. from Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park on ESPNU.

(Courtesy: Texas Tech Sports Communications Department)