The No. 4 Texas Tech baseball team rolled to a 20-9 victory over New Mexico on Tuesday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field in Albuquerque.
The Red Raiders (30-8) put up its third 20-run game in four contests in the win against the Lobos (12-22-1), tallying 20 runs on 22 hits in the midweek matchup. It makes Tech 2-0 against New Mexico this season, defeating the Lobos, 7-2, on March 7 in Lubbock.
Sophomore infielder Josh Jung went 5-for-5 on Tuesday, hitting for the cycle as part of an eight RBI, four runs scored and one walk day. The sixth cycle in school history followed a sequence of: single (first inning), double (third inning), three-run homer (fourth inning), solo homer (eighth inning) and triple (ninth inning).
He joins Mike Humphreys (1996), Clint Bryant (1995), Neal Leonard (1996), Jon Weber (1999) and Chris Richburg (2008) as the only Red Raiders to hit for the cycle. Jung was the only Tech hitter to do so with five hits, driving in the most runs of the six with eight.
Jung was one of seven Red Raiders to throw down multi-hit performances against the Lobos, as every hitter in the starting lineup recorded a hit and scored a run. Thirteen of Tech’s 22 hits went for extra bases, a season-high, while posting four triples for the first time since March 7, 2014, vs. New Mexico State.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Ryan Sublette got the start on Tuesday in Albuquerque, going 1.0 inning, allowing three runs on three hits with two walks. He gave way to senior righty Jose Quezada, who tossed 2.0 scoreless frames, striking out & walking one each, earning the win to improve to 4-1 this season.
The Red Raiders plated the first run of the day in the opening frame, scoring two for an early 2-0 lead. Three-straight singles put two runs on the board, as freshman Gabe Holt began the game with an infield knock hit at the first baseman. He was fulfilled on a single from sophomore Cody Farhat, who would score shortly after on a ball ripped to left-center field from Jung.
After three runs by the Lobos in the bottom half of the first, Tech got the lead back in the third inning, driving in four for a 6-3 advantage. The first five Red Raiders reached base in the frame, as Jung brought in two on a bases-loaded double off the right field wall to take the lead. Then, sophomore Grant Little smacked a triple off the wall closer to right-center, to push it to a three-run advantage.
Jung smashed a three-run homer with two away in the fourth inning to increase the score to 9-3. A two-out walk & an infield double by Farhat on a popup brought Jung to the plate, who uncorked his sixth dinger of the year over the scoreboard in left-center field & may still be flying through Albuquerque.
Tech erased a run by UNM in the bottom of the fourth with two runs in the fifth inning. Senior Michael Davis opened the frame with a book-rule double, then junior Zayne Willems placed a triple down the right field line for the first run of the fifth. Later in the inning, Holt sent Willems home on an RBI groundout to make it 11-4.
The Lobos added runs in the fifth & sixth innings, but the Red Raiders put the lead back at six after Tech’s third triple of the day, a two-out, three-bagger off the right-center field wall by a pinch-hitting Brian Klein. His hit scored Willems, who reached on a fielder’s choice, to give the Red Raiders a 12-6 lead.
A homer by the Lobos in the bottom of the seventh made it a 12-7 game, but Tech countered with back-to-back solo dingers from Jung and Little in the eighth. Two more would come across on a sacrifice fly from John McMillon and an RBI single from Klein to push the lead to 16-7.
Two runs from UNM on another homer in the eighth were outshined by four by the Red Raiders in the ninth, highlighted by Jung’s cycle-clinching RBI triple. Jung would later score on a fielding error on a grounder by Little, then Davis launched a two-run dinger to complete the score at 20-9.
The win gave the Red Raiders their fifth-straight season with at least 30 wins, making Tech one of three teams in the NCAA this season to have already hit the 30-win mark.
The Red Raiders return home to face No. 14 Oklahoma on Friday, April 20, at 6:30 p.m. from Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park on FOX Sports Southwest Plus.