The No. 6 Texas Tech baseball team pieced together a 5-3 series-clinching win over No. 29 Baylor in front of another sold out Rip Griffin Park on Saturday afternoon.
The Red Raiders (28-6, 6-2) scored in every inning the Bears (19-12, 2-6) tallied a run, matching Baylor’s output in the fourth & sixth frames, before breaking through with three in the seventh to cap the 5-3 win. With the victory, the Red Raiders have won five-straight home weekend series at Rip Griffin Park.
Junior infielder Michael Davis put down three hits against the Bears on Saturday, while sophomore outfielder Cody Farhat added a two-hit bid to go with his run scored. Junior infielder Orlando Garcia drove in two runs, one coming from his sixth home run this year, while Michael Berglund, Hunter Hargrove and Ryan Long all tallied an RBI.
Sophomore lefty Steven Gingery made his eighth start of the year and put together quality start No. 8 in 2017 against the Bears. The Huntington Beach, California, native tossed 5.1 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits, while striking out three. Freshman right-hander John McMillon posted his second win of the year, first in Big 12 play, after throwing 1.1 frames in relief, allowing just one hit while working out of a two on, no out jam in the eighth. Junior righty Jose Quezada picked up his fourth save of the year behind a scoreless ninth that featured two strikeouts.
The Bears struck first in the top of the fourth, after an error allowed Baylor’s Menard to score from third with two away in the inning. Menard began the frame with a single and was moved over by another single from Esthay and a flyout.
The lead would be short-lived, as Garcia drove a 2-1 pitch with two outs over the left-center field wall to tie the game at one. It was the first time since Adam Kirsch on May 16-17, 2014, a Red Raider has homered in back-to-back games, as Garcia hit a three-run blast in Friday’s series opener.
Baylor answered back in the top of the sixth as Menard scored again on a two-out single to left-center from Dodson. Just like the fourth, Tech responded in the bottom half of the sixth with a run of its own thanks to a sacrifice fly from Berglund to knot it up at two. Jung opened the frame with a single up the middle and would score the run after being moved over via a walk to Hargrove and a wild pitch during Berglund’s at-bat.
In the seventh, Baylor re-took the lead as a string of singles & a HBP loaded the bases for Menard, who hit a sacrifice fly to deep left-center field to score Bissonette to go up, 3-2. Staying true to the previous two scoring innings, Tech tacked on three more for the first Red Raider lead of the game.
The Tech seventh began with a single from Farhat & a walk to freshman outfielder Grant Little to put two on with no out. A perfect sacrifice bunt from Davis moved the duo up and a walk to freshman infielder Josh Jung loaded the bases and signaled a pitching change for the Bears.
A grounder from Hargrove to shortstop with the bases loaded in the next at-bat was mishandled and an attempted dive at the bag was not quick enough to beat Jung. The play kept the bases loaded & scored Farhat to tie the game. The final two runs would be walked in during plate appearances to Garcia and Ryan Long, giving Tech the 5-3 score.
The series finale is set for another 2 p.m. first pitch on Sunday, April 9, from Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.
(COURTESY TEXAS TECH SPORTS INFORMATION DEPARTMENT)