The No. 10 Texas Tech baseball team broke a tie in the sixth and powered its way to a 9-4 victory over No. 14 Oklahoma State on Thursday night at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
The Red Raiders (36-15, 13-9) used a two-run homer, followed by a five-run inning to take the series opener from the Cowboys (29-20-1, 16-6). Eight different Tech batters recorded a hit, with juniors Cody Farhat & Cameron Warren each producing multi-hit bids at the plate. It was the 28th time this season the Red Raiders have recorded 10 or more hits in a game.
Senior left-handed pitcher Dylan Dusek got the start for the Red Raiders and worked 2.0 frames in the series opener. He allowed just one run, unearned, on two hits, with a strikeout. He gave way to junior righty Ryan Shetter, who tossed a 6.0 inning gem for Tech, striking out six and allowing three runs on three hits to improve to 4-0 this season.
Oklahoma State struck first in the second inning, taking advantage of a two-out error on a fly ball from McCusker to deep left field. The play resulted in a run scored by Funk, who singled earlier in the frame.
Tech tied the game at one in their next trip to the plate, using a sacrifice fly from freshman Gabe Holt to score Warren, who moved around the bases after a single, a passed ball and a single from Farhat.
The Red Raiders broke the tie in the sixth thanks to a two-run dinger from senior Michael Davis. After a walk to senior Zach Rheams with two gone, Davis took advantage of the extended inning by crushing his 11th homer of the year well past the Tech bullpen for a 3-1 lead.
It was the 27th home run the Red Raiders have hit in conference play, which is the sixth-most by a squad donning the scarlet & black in league action.
In the next frame, Tech added some insurance starting with an RBI single from Holt, scoring Farhat after he began the inning with a single & stolen base. With the bases loaded & one out, freshman Cody Masters uncorked a triple to the gap in right-center field to blow the lead open at 7-1. Two pitches later, he’d score on a wild ball to the backstop.
OSU cut the deficit to four after a rally-killer homer from Littell in the eighth inning. After a double & walk with two gone, Littell hit a three-run home run to left field to make it an 8-4 game. However, Tech got one back in the ninth after Warren launched an RBI double to left-center field, scoring Davis from first after his walk to push the lead to 9-4.
The Red Raiders & Cowboys return to action on Friday at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium at 6:30 p.m. on FOX Sports Southwest Plus.
(Courtesy: Texas Tech Sports Communications Department)
