One game at a time, one inning at a time, one pitch at a time.
 
It’s the mantra that Texas Tech head coach baseball coach Tim Tadlock has ingrained in his players.
 
It’s the reason you see the level of consistency they’ve attained. 
 
However, with the chance to wrap up the Big 12 title all for themselves, the Red Raiders weren’t even on the field to put those wise words into action.
 
“I was one of the few times that any of us have rooted for OU,” Tech junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Moseley said.
 
Instead, closely watching the series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, hoping for two Cowboys losses last weekend to wrap up the crown.
 
Maybe not the ideal vision, but it got the job done.
 
“I was definitely rooting for OU,” Tech sophomore short stop Orlando Garcia said.
 
“I wanted to win it in our home stadium,” Tech junior outfielder Stephen Smith said.
 
“I was like, how do we celebrate this? Since you’re sort of celebrating another team winning.” Tech junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Moseley said.
 
“I think we earned the right to take it the way we got it, and we’ll take it anyway we can get it, as far as that goes,” Tadlock said.
 
And from a team that was picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll, the Red Raiders now wear the conference crown for the first time since 1998.
 
Clearing every hurdle in their path, just as steady as their mantra. 
 
However, hungry for a bigger goal.
 
Getting back to Omaha.
 
On the brink of their final Big 12 series of the year, the Red Raiders have put themselves in prime position. 
 
Tech right now a consensus top-8 team, so close to securing a national seed that they can almost reach out and grab it. Securing that seed, would guarantee them the chance to host both a regional and super regional – something that under the current format, they have never done. 
 
However, if I have learned anything about his team, it’s that they don’t get caught up in records. They don’t look to the past, and they certainly don’t look towards the future. Always, taking it one day at a time.