The No. 6 Texas Tech baseball team rebounded in its second game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship with a 6-2 victory over Oklahoma State on Thursday afternoon at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
The Red Raiders (39-16) eliminated the second-seeded Cowboys (29-24-1) with the win to move on as the highest seed remaining in the conference tournament. Tech will play the loser of West Virginia and TCU on Friday, May 25, at 7 p.m.
Tech took the lead off two homers from junior Cameron Warren, the first tying the game and the second for a 3-1 lead that the Red Raiders never surrendered. He was the fourth Tech hitter with multiple homers in a game this year, joining sophomores Josh Jung, Brian Klein & Grant Little to accomplish the feat.
Junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Shetter got the start on Thursday afternoon, tossing 4.0 strong innings against the Pokes. He gave up two runs on four hits and struck out three before giving way to fellow junior righty Ty Harpenau, who threw 3.0 scoreless frames in relief, allowing just two hits, walking one and punching out another to improve to 6-2 this season.
Oklahoma State struck first in the opening frame after an RBI single from Littell scored Kroon from second, who singled & stole a bag to get into scoring position. Tech quickly answered in the top of the second with a solo homer from Warren to tie the game.
It was the first of two dingers on the day for the Midwest City, Oklahoma, native and his third over the last two weeks in his home state. Warren stepped to the plate with Jung on base in the third and rocketed another home run to the deck in left field to give Tech a 3-1 lead and gave him 10 homers on the year.
OSU answered in the bottom of the fourth with one of their own as back-to-back hits down the third base line, a double from Littell and a single from Funk pulled the score to 3-2.
After two scoreless innings, Tech added two more to push the lead to 5-2. With the bases loaded, a Little beat out a grounder on a fielder’s choice to allow Holt to score, then a two-out single from Rheams through the right side of the infield plated another for the second run of the frame. Later in the frame, Davis was walked with the bases juiced again to bring the score to its final at 6-2.
The Red Raiders will face the loser of West Virginia, who play Thursday at approximately on Friday at 7 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.