No. 9 Tech drops series finale to WVU - Texas Tech Red Raiders - TexasTech.com

techsooper.blogspot.com LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 9 Texas Tech dropped Sunday's series finale versus West Virginia, 15-4, at Rip Griffin Park. Despite Sunday's loss, the Red Raiders secured the series win on Saturday and are winners of four of their first five Big 12 series this season.

Sunday's game was tightly contested until the ninth inning with Texas Tech trailing by one, 5-4. The Mountaineers exploded for 10 runs in the top half of the ninth inning, using eight hits, one of which was a grand slam.

The Red Raiders found themselves in an early hole, 2-0, as five of the first six Mountaineers reached base safely in the first inning, signaling starter Chase Hampton's exit. Mason Molina inherited a bases-loaded jam with one out and stranded all three runners by producing a strikeout, followed by a groundout.

Tech cut the deficit to one, 2-1, in the bottom of the third, and tied it 2-2, in the bottom of the fourth. Easton Murrell bunt singled, and crossed home plate behind a Cole Stilwell RBI double (watch) in the third. Tech used a two-out Parker Kelly double (watch) to bring home Hudson White – who drew a walk on the previous at-bat – to tie the game in the fourth.

West Virginia reclaimed the lead the next half-inning. In the top of the fifth, the Mountaineers pounced on Tech for three runs off of four hits. Molina allowed a leadoff single while Trendan Parish surrendered the next three hits in relief before getting out of the inning, trailing 5-2.

Despite being roughed up in the fifth, Parish settled in. He surrendered one hit in the sixth and then went on to retire the next seven batters in a row he faced before being lifted after closing the eighth inning. Stilwell got a run back in the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run (watch), a part of three-straight base hits, but the inning was halted on an inning-ending double play. Tech produced one more run in the seventh to cut the lead to one, 5-4, before West Virginia's 10-run ninth inning.

Ty Coleman led Tech in the hits category on Sunday, just as he did on Saturday. He went 3-for-4 from the plate and finished the three-game series 8-for-13 (.615). All eight hits were singles. As a team, there was no shortage of offense as the squad tallied 37 hits, including 10 on Sunday, and scored 23 runs in the series.

Sunday's loss drops Tech to 20-2 at home this season and to 29-14 overall.

Quotable
Head Coach Tim Tadlock
On Sunday's starting pitching...
"We'll look at that tomorrow, but we're definitely looking for a guy to pitch on Sundays. I thought Mason Molina was very good today, and I thought that Trendan Parish was very good today (in relief). I feel like that could get lost after how this game turned out. That was a close baseball game until the ninth inning. You want to be better at the front end of the game, and today we weren't."

Up Next
Tech remains at home for its next game, hosting Abilene Christian on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. for its annual "Bark in the Park" game. For more information, visit HERE.

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