The No. 10 Texas Tech baseball team closed the regular season with a 7-3 victory over No. 14 Oklahoma State on Sunday at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
The Red Raiders (38-15, 15-9) completed the sweep of the Cowboys (29-22-1, 16-8) after scoring seven runs on eight hits in the finale. Tech won the first two games of the set, 9-4 and 14-6, to cap a 3-0 week coming out of the finals break.
Seven different Red Raiders recorded a hit in the contest, with senior Zach Rheams tallying two, both doubles, to go with three RBI and a run scored. Junior Cameron Warren also had two RBI on a double.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher got the start on Saturday afternoon, going 4.1 innings against the Cowboys in the finale. He allowed three runs on three hits, walking one with three strikeouts. He was relieved by fellow sophomore righty John McMillon, who worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning. He finished the day with 2.1 IP, one hit allowed, three walks & two K’s. He earned the win to improve to 5-3 this year.
Senior RHP Jose Quezada worked 1.2 frames after McMillon, walking two & striking out two. Sophomore righty Connor Queen polished off the contest after the hour and 43 minute lightning delay retiring both batters he faced.
The Red Raiders drew first blood with the first at-bat of the game, as freshman Gabe Holt lifted a solo homer to dead center field for the early 1-0 lead. It was Holt’s fifth dinger of the season & the third time he’s began a game with a home run.
Sophomores Brian Klein & Josh Jung made it three-straight Red Raiders to reach after a double & walk, respectively, then were cleared by a book-rule double over the left-center field wall by Rheams to make it 3-0. It was the 22nd time this season Tech has scored in the opening inning.
OSU got all three back in the third after picking up its first hit of the game with one out in the frame. After a pair of singles put runners on the corners, a sacrifice fly from Boone plated the first run of the day for the Cowboys. Kroon followed with a two-run homer over the left-center field wall to tie the game.
Tech countered to re-take the lead at 4-3 in its next trip to the plate, using a two-out RBI single from freshman Braxton Fulford to score Warren after he walked & moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.
With two away in the fifth, sophomore Grant Little was plunked by a pitch, and the Red Raiders took advantage of the extended inning by plating three in the frame to push the lead to 7-3. All three runs came off a pair of doubles, the first from Rheams, which scored Little, then Warren rang a two-RBI knock off the right field wall for the other two runs in the inning.
McMillon & senior Jose Quezada worked out of the same situations in the fifth & seventh innings, leaving the bases loaded with a strikeout from McMillon and a fly out from Quezada to keep the four-run lead intact.
The Red Raiders head to Oklahoma City for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship, with the first set of games beginning on Wednesday, May 23, where they’ll be the No. 3 seed and face TCU at 7:30 p.m. at Bricktown Ballpark.
COURTESY OF TEXAS TECH ATHLETICS
