LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 13 Texas Tech baseball team swept finished off the series sweep of No. 22 Michigan with an 8-5 win on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Rip Griffin Park.
The Red Raiders (15-5, 1-2) plated a run in six of eight innings for the second time this season and hit three home runs to take its third straight win over the Wolverines (14-7). Tech finished the series outscoring Michigan 29-10.
Sophomore Cody Masters opened the scoring with a solo shot in the first, while junior Josh Jung and senior Cameron Warren also went yard. Junior relief pitcher Caleb Freeman (2-0) picked up the win, and redshirt freshman Clayton Beeter earned his fourth save of the season.
While Masters, Jung and Warren did their damage with the long ball, sophomore Gabe Holt and junior Brian Klein combined for four hits with three of those two-baggers. Holt finished 2-for-5 with two doubles and two runs, while Klein went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
Six Tech pitchers combined to allow five runs on 12 hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts. In his 12th appearance of the season, Dane Haveman pitched two shutout innings, allowing no hits and striking out three of the six batters he faced.
Freeman came in at a key moment in the seventh with the bases loaded and two outs in a 5-5 game. He was able to produce a grounder to Jung at third for the final out of the frame. He started the eighth with a strikeout before a base hit would pull Beeter out of the pen for the final five outs.
Tech opened the scoring in the first inning on a solo shot from Masters, his third of the year. The Wolverines pushed across four runs in the top of the third inning, which lifted starter Erikson Lanning from the game.
The Red Raiders responded in the third and fourth innings to tie the game at 4-4. Holt doubled in the third and scored on Jung’s dinger. Sophomore Dylan Neuse began the fourth inning with a single and stolen base. He advanced to third when freshman Tanner O’Tremba fouled out to deep right field, then came home to tie the game on a sacrifice fly from Warren.
Both teams scored runs in the fifth inning to maintain the tie score until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Holt led off the seventh with his second double of the afternoon. After stealing third base, Holt scored easily on a sacrifice fly from Jung. The lead was extended on another sacrifice fly by Neuse, who drove in freshman Cole Stilwell.
Warren added an insurance run in the eighth, connecting on his team-leading sixth home run of the season to make it 8-5.
Warren and Klein led a balanced Tech lineup in the series as both hit .500 with a combined eleven hits including four extra base hits and nine RBI. All three of Jung’s hits in the series went for extra bases with two doubles and a home run. The third baseman also walked twice and posted four RBI.
The Red Raiders will next face the Stetson Hatters in a two game series beginning Sunday at 2 p.m. The game can be seen on Texas Tech TV or heard through the Texas Tech Sports Network.
Courtesy of Texas Tech Athletics Communications Department
