Red Raiders open up Big 12 with 10-5 win

PROVO, Utah – Texas Tech picked up its first Big 12 win of the season after taking down BYU 10-5 on Thursday powered by a season-high 14 hits.

The Red Raiders (18-4, 1-0) had six players record multiple hits including Arriana Villa, Demi Elder, Raegan Jennings, Abbie Orrick, Logan Halleman and Kailey Wyckoff who led all hitters with three.

As a team, Tech recorded five extra-base hits, four of which were doubles.

Maddie Kuehl picked up her sixth win of the season after striking out four BYU (14-5, 0-1) batters including a big time K in the bottom of the third after the Cougars loaded the bases with no outs. Kuehl struck out the batter in between two fly outs to get out of the inning unscathed.

Villa got the scoring started after crushing a two-run shot to dead center in the second at-bat of the game following Aubrey Barnhart reaching on a hit-by-pitch.

Riley Love drove in Villa in the third inning after the seniors hit back-to-back doubles. Love missed a homer by inches as it bounced off the top of the wall. Elder drove in Love a couple of at-bats later with a liner into right to put Tech up 4-1.

The Cougars tacked on a run in the bottom of the fourth which Tech promptly responded to with a four-run fifth inning.

All four runs came with two outs in the inning as Elder, Jennings and Orrick all picked up RBIs. Orrick pushed across two runs with a double off the wall.

BYU pushed across two more runs in the bottom of the fifth before the Red Raiders added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh on a Jennings single and a Halleman sac-fly.

Olivia Rains came in for the final 2.2 innings and shut down the Cougars, allowing just two hits and one run through 11 batters faced.

UP NEXT: The Red Raiders will play game two of their first Big 12 series tomorrow at 4 p.m. CT.

Release Provided By Jay Strader Texas Tech Athletics