The No. 3 Texas Tech baseball team began the Saturday doubleheader with a 12-1 rout of Maine at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.
The Red Raiders (2-0) racked up 12 runs on 13 hits, while drawing 10 walks from the Black Bears (0-2) pitching staff. Four different Red Raiders recorded multi-hit games in Saturday’s contest, with sophomore Grant Little leading the way with three, all three for doubles.
Senior left-handed pitcher Dylan Dusek picked up the victory after tossing 2.2 frames in relief for the Red Raiders. Dusek gave up just one run on three hits, while striking out two for the win. Junior RHP Ty Harpenau tossed three hitless frames, totaling three strikeouts & freshman righty Nick Candelari finished off the game with a strikeout in his scoreless ninth inning of work.
After a quiet first, the Red Raiders again put the first runs on the board, plating three in the second for a 3-0 lead. Sophomores Clay Koelzer & Grant Little began the frame with back-to-back doubles, trading places for the first run of the day. After a walk to junior infielder Cameron Warren & a stolen base from Little, a double play resulted in Little crossing home with two away. With two gone and a four-pitch walk issued to senior infielder Michael Davis, junior outfielder Cody Farhat unleashed a missile to dead center field, which bounced off the wall, allowing him to easily reach third for a standup RBI triple.
Tech added another in the third thanks to a second RBI double from Little. With sophomore infielder Josh Jung on second after a leadoff single & walk to Koelzer, Little roped a two-bagger to left field to extend the lead to 4-0.
In the top of the fifth, Maine got a run back to make it 4-1. After a one-out single from Casals, he moved up to second on a groundout, then was driven in by an RBI single to right field by Vicens.
The Red Raiders would earn the run back in the bottom of the sixth, extending the advantage back to four runs. A throwing error by Maine’s third baseman allowed Farhat to reach first to open the frame, then a single from Holt moved him over to third and put runners in scoring position. Sophomore infielder Brian Klein proceeded to bring in Farhat with an RBI groundout to push the lead to 5-1.
Tech added two more in the seventh to make it a 7-1 game. Little opened the frame with a single up the middle for his third hit of the day. After Warren was hit-by-a-pitch, senior outfielder Connor Beck moved the duo over with a sacrifice bunt. A deep sacrifice fly from Davis drove in the first run of the inning, while a single from Farhat to left field sent Warren across home plate for the second.
The third of three-straight innings with runs on the board came in the eighth, this time in the form of five runs. Jung showed the power again on Saturday with a two-run homer onto the track in right field to make it 9-1. Then, a double player later in the inning brought in Koelzer, who had reached on a single after Jung’s blast to push the advantage to 10-1. Tech plated another run on a double play, then a pinch-hitting freshman KC Simonich picked up his first collegiate hit with a knock to right field, scoring Little to cap the scoring at 12-1.
The Red Raiders conclude the series with a 1 p.m. first pitch on Sunday at Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.
COURTESY OF TEXAS TECH ATHLETICS
