Tech Welcomes UTRGV for Bark in the Park Night, Final Midweek Contest in 2024

LUBBOCK, Texas — The Texas Tech Red Raiders will look to get back to winning ways on Tuesday night when they welcome URTGV for a 6:30 p.m. contest. The game against UTRGV will be the 15th and final midweek game that Tech will play in 2024.

Tuesday’s contest will be Texas Tech’s last non-conference home game of the season and the fourth-to-last home game of the season overall. The Red Raiders will host Oklahoma this weekend following the clash with URTGV.

The game on Tuesday will also be the second and final ‘Bark in the Park’ night as Red Raider Nation can bring their favorite four-legged friend (with an signed a completed waiver form) for the midweek contest.

INSIDE THE MATCHUPS:

MATCHUP: Texas Tech (29-17) at vs. UTRGV (21-18)
DATE: Tuesday, Apr. 30, 2024
TIME: 6:30 p.m.
TV: Big 12 Now/ESPN+
LOCATION: Rip Griffin Park at Dan Law Field (Lubbock, Texas)
PITCHING MATCHUP: TBA vs. RHP Isiah Campa (2-1, 4.05 ERA)

1-2-3 HEADLINES:
* The Red Raiders look to snap a season-high four-game losing streak after a tough weekend sweep at Kansas. The Red Raiders got off to a strong start in all three games of the series as Tech led 2-0 in each of the three games. Scoring first was usually a good omen for the Red Raiders, as Tech was previously 5-1 this season in B12 games when scoring first. The Red Raiders also failed to hit a home run in the weekend series at Kansas, marking the first time all season that Tech did not homer in a weekend series. The Red Raiders dropped a 4-3 heart breaker on Friday night after leading 3-1 heading to the seventh and 3-2 in the eighth. On Saturday the Red Raiders fell 11-2 before dropping the weekend finale 7-3 on Sunday despite out hitting KU. The Red Raiders were previously 9-2 when out hitting a conference foe.

* On Tuesday night, Tech will welcome UTRGV for the final game of the month of April but also the final non-conference game of the season. The Red Raiders will close out their home schedule for 2024 this weekend when they welcome No. 22 OU for a weekend set.

* With the final non-conference home game here, the Red Raiders will look to close another dominant non-conference home slate, as the Red Raiders enter the contest 12-1 overall at home vs. non-conference foes. That includes weekend sweeps of TXSO, Gardner-Webb, NM State and Stanford, as well as wins over ACU and SFA. The Red Raiders are 21-4 overall at home this season and have won 11 of 12 and 14 of 16 at the Rip.

NOTES:

IT’S THE FINAL HOMESTAND
When UTRGV comes to town on Tuesday night it will open the final homestand of the 2024 season. Following the midweek game against UTRGV, the Red Raiders will welcome No. 22 Oklahoma to Rip Griffin Park at Dan Law Field for the final matchup all-time between the two schools as conference foes. OU will of course depart the Big 12 Conference in July and will become members of the SEC.

W = 450 & 30
The Red Raiders with a win on Tuesday can reach a pair of milestones for head coach Tim Tadlock who enters the game with 449 total wins at Tech, meaning with a win Tadlock could reach 450 wins in his Tech career. The Red Raiders will also reach 30 total victories on the season for the 10th straight complete season (minus the 2019 COVID-19 season). The last time Tech failed to reach 30 wins came in 2013, Tadlock’s first season.

6-4-3 HISTORY
On Friday night against Kansas, the Red Raiders turned seven double plays in nine innings. The Red Raiders turned a double play in every inning except the fourth and ninth. The streak started in the bottom of the first when Ryan Free induced a 4-3 GDP of Jake English in the first. In the second inning, Free ended the inning with a 6-4-3 GDP. In the third Free put the first two outs on the board on a 4-6-3 double play. In the fifth, Free got English to ground into another GDP, this time started by SS Tracer Lopez who flipped to TJ Pompey who then threw to Gavin Kash to complete the 6-4-3 DP. In the sixth, reliever Josh Sanders ended the inning with a 6-3 DP before a line drive DP in the seventh ended another inning. In the eighth, Sanders erased a lead off single for the Red Raiders seventh double play of the game. The seven double plays were a new school record and tied the all-time NCAA mark. It was the fifth time in NCAA history that a team had turned seven double plays

BUSY APRIL COMES TO A CLOSE
Following the midweek contest on Tuesday night against the Vaqueros the Red Raiders will close yet another month of the 2024 season. So far in April the Red Raiders have played 18 games (10 home, 8 road) and are 10-8 over those contests. April has been a up-and-down month, as Tech opened the month with seven straight wins before suffering four straight losses at TCU and Arkansas. The Red Raiders rebounded the following weekend with a series sweep over WVU before suffering a loss last Tuesday against UNM. The Red Raiders were swept this last weekend at KU. Despite the two four-game losing streaks, the Red Raiders are still guaranteed an above .500 month of April despite facing a pair of nationally-ranked opponents and playing 15 contests against Power Five opponents.

THIRD TIME SINCE ’09

The Red Raiders will face the Vaqueros of UTRGV in Lubbock for just the third season since 2003. That stretch includes a two-game midweek series in 2019 as well as a series in 2009. In fact since 2000, the Red Raiders and UTRGV have met just 10 times total, the two-game series in Lubbock, a midweek in Edinburg in 2018, a two-game series in Lubbock in 2009, a three-game weekend set in 2002 and two games in 2000.

BARK IN THE PARK PT. 2
After hosting the first Bark in the Park on Mar. 26 against Stephen F. Austin, the Red Raiders will host a second Bark in the Park night on Tuesday against UTRGV.

TOUGH WEATHER AGAIN ON THE ROAD

After seeing multiple weather delays and a postponement against Baylor (Mar. 15-17) and getting stuck in Lubbock and having to travel to UCF/Orlando the day of the opening game of the series back on Mar. 28, the Red Raiders once again ran into weather issues this past weekend in Lawrence as both Saturday and Sunday’s games were moved to Noon starts due to storms.

WHAT, NO HOME RUNS?

For the first time all season, the Red Raiders failed to hit a home run in a weekend series. The Red Raiders could have easily hit five six as Gavin Kash had at least three balls that were clocked at over 105 MPH caught at the wall including a 108 MPH blast to right-center and a 106 MPH drive to left-center on Saturday. OF Drew Woodcox had an RBI double off the wall, while TJ Pompey hit one 105 MPH to the wall on Sunday. The conditions were tough to hit home runs in this weekend at Kansas, as the winds gusted over 30 MPH and were blowing in. For the weekend the Red Raiders hit just .202 (21-of-104) with five doubles and a triple.

ANOTHER IN-STATE FOE

Tuesday’s matchup will be the eighth different match up/series against an In-State opponent this season. The Red Raiders faced Texas Southern (Feb. 23-25) UT (Mar. 8-10), Baylor (Mar. 15-17), ACU (Mar. 19/Apr. 10), Stephen F. Austin (Mar. 26), Houston (Apr. 5-7), TCU (Apr. 12-14) and now UTRGV (Apr. 30). The Red Raiders will not see a team from Texas anymore this season unless they face a Texas team in the NCAA Tournament.

DAMIAN BRAVO.
Damian Bravo has been suburb in his second season in Lubbock, as the Sophomore has hit a team-best .398 in his 41 games played. After leaving the series finale in Fort Worth and missing the two midweeks at Arkansas and Friday’s opener against WVU, Bravo returned to the lineup for both ends of the DH on Sunday. Bravo leads the Big 12 in average and doubles. Bravo is third in the league in hits (64) and runs scored (49).

RUNNIN’ RUNNIN’
The Red Raiders have clearly been aggressive on the base-paths this season, as the club has now stolen 44 bases in 46 games played. The Red Raiders went until Mar. 23 against BYU without a caught stealing as the Red Raiders went 28 consecutive stolen base attempts with out a caught stealing. Tech has been caught stealing just five times and already have stolen 16 more bases than 2023 (28).

ROLLIN’ IN THE DEEP
Another pitcher who changed his warmup song in 2024 was senior Josh Sanders, who will now warmup to Adelle’s Rolling in the Deep. So far it seems the warmup song is working for Sanders, as the righty has pitched 34.2 innings thus far, allowing just 25 hits and 10 runs (eight earned). Sanders has now struck out 36 batters in his 34.2 innings of work. The righty retired his last 14 batters in a row including three perfect innings in Friday’s win over Houston. Sanders struck out 12. Sanders allowed his first run in a month last weekend at KU when he was touched up for two runs. The runs were the first he had allowed in seven appearances and 13.2 inning pitched. He is tied for the team lead in saves (2) and has the fifth-most wins (3) on the ballclub.

HUGETYRA
Freshman Parker Hutyra has really emerged in his first collegiate season as the freshman has allowed just three runs in 15 appearances and 22.0 innings pitched. Hutyra has struck out 24 batters this season, and hallowed his first run since Feb. 21 vs. Oregon State last weekend against WVU. That span stretched 18.1 innings and included five straight key outings against BYU, UCF, Stanford and TCU. The righty has struck out 24 batters in his last 18.1 innings pitched. Prior to the Sunday appearance in the loss to TCU the Red Raiders had won six straight games he’d appeared in. And while Hutyra has continued to perform at a high level, he did maybe his best work of the season against Houston as after throwing 45 pitches in nearly three scoreless innings, Hutyra entered in a four-run game and fired a scoreless ninth to close out a series sweep. After allowing three walks and game-winning run on Friday night against Kansas, Hutyra bounced back on Sunday afternoon when he pitched three nearly perfect innings. The righty allowed just one hit and retired nine of the 10 batters he faced.

NINE IN SEVEN BRINGS SCHOOL RECORD
The Red Raiders slugged a school-record nine home runs in the victory over ACU, as four different Red Raiders hit multiple home runs (Cade McGee, Gavin Kash, TJ Pompey and Drew Woodcox). Tech became the first Big 12 Team since 2019 to sock nine home runs as the four players with multiple home runs are the most by a Big 12 team since at least 2011.

BROUGHT OUT THE BROOMS AGAIN
The Red Raiders have now won eight straight Big 12 home games including a pair of sweeps against Houston and WVU. The Red Raiders have swept back-to-back Big 12 Conference series for the first time since the 2016 season. The Red Raiders eight straight Big 12 home wins are the most Tech has rattled off in a row since the 2014 season.

MCGEE AND GREEN HONORED
After going a combined 18-for-40 with six home runs and 19 RBIs, Tech’s Austin Green (Co-Player of the Week) and Cade McGee (Newcomer of the Week) were honored by the Big 12 Conference on Monday.

The honors are the first for both Green and McGee this season and the third and fourth overall weekly awards. Freshman TJ Pompey was named the league’s newcomer of the week the week of Feb. 26 while Damian Bravo took home player of the week honors for the week on Apr. 8. Green started his week in style against No. 2 Arkansas going 5-for-5 against the top-ranked Arkansas pitching staff. For the week, Green went 10-for-20 with four doubles, a pair of home runs and 10 RBIs against a pair of nationally-ranked opponents, while McGee homered four times and drove in nine in the five game week. He also scored five runs and drove in a run and has hits in all five games.

K-ROB ALSO GETS A NATIONAL NOD
Junior Kyle Robinson fresh off a career-performance that featured the righty throwing seven strong innings where he retired 16 of the final 19 batters he faced and recorded a career-best nine strikeouts. After allowing a run in the second, Robinson did not allow anything after that frame.

UP NEXT:
The Red Raiders close out the 2024 home schedule with a weekend series against No. 22 Oklahoma. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. with the final two games of the series set for a 2 p.m. first pitch.

–TECH–

Release Provided By Andrew Stern Texas Tech Athletics