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Five-run first inning leads Tech to victory at Michigan (Lubbock Online)
Stephen Hagen’s bases-loaded single plated Tech’s first two runs, and Nick Popescu added a bases-loaded double to score the final three runs of the frame for the Red Raiders (8-2), who were playing for the first time in a week due to the mandated break for final exams
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After break for finals, Red Raiders hit road to face Maize and Blue (Lubbock Online)
“We’re in a position to do the things we’d like to do and we don’t need any help,” said Spencer, whose Red Raiders (28-20, 9-12 in Big 12) entered and exited the weekend in fifth place in the conference standings. “We just have to take care of our own business, and that’s a good place to be this time of year.”
.. .
Tech holds the tiebreaker against every team in the pack except Kansas State and hopes to add Missouri to the list later this week.
. . .
But the Michigan trip isn’t just to try and get two more wins. The Red Raiders have been off since Wednesday due to finals, with a short practice on Sunday to try and stay sharp.
Last season the Red Raiders had 13 days off between games during finals, and they struggled coming out of the break, losing five of their final six Big 12 games, a stretch that eventually decided their NCAA fate.
“Personally, I think the break will be a positive thing,” said closer John Neely, who is tied for third in the nation with nine victories. “It gives our arms a rest for a full week, and I assume it will do well for us.”
Spencer is hoping the two games will give his team a chance to regain its focus and the momentum gained from the sweep of Kansas a week ago.
“Our intention is to load up and to lineup as best we can to win both games,” Spencer said. “We need to go in and get crisp and play well. We’re not going in to split. We’re going in to win both games.”
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Raiders look for strong finish to impress committee (Lubbock Online, 5/2)
“Getting the sweep at home was huge especially after a rough week at Kansas State,” center fielder Barrett Barnes said after Sunday’s 8-7 win over the Jayhawks on a bases-loaded, two-out walk, “but we came back and had a great weekend for our morale, and now we have to go into (today) and take care of business as well.”
In one weekend, the Red Raiders turned their fortunes around by avoiding some of the pitfalls that befell them the previous four weekends, when they lost four series in a row. They routinely beat defensive shifts that had become virtually automatic for opponents by hitting the ball the other way. They were also able to lay off troublesome breaking balls on the outside corners that turned from strikeouts to walks, and they were able to come through with key run-scoring hits in the 10th inning Friday and ninth inning Sunday to win a pair of one-run games.
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Three Texas Tech baseball players named to national watch list (dallasnews.com)
Texas Tech reliever John Neely was placed on the National Pitcher of the Year Watch List by the College Baseball Hall of Fame which is based in Lubbock, Texas.
Neely has a 9-0 record and also was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List. He currently is tied for third in the nation for wins with a 2.17 ERA and a .243 batting average against.
Additionally, Texas Tech's David Paiz is a College Baseball Hall of Fame John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List athlete. The award is given to the nation's best pitcher and hitter in the nation.
Paiz currently bats .291 with 21 runs while starting as Texas Tech's Saturday pitcher during Big 12 Conference series.
Additionally, the College Baseball Hall of Fame announced Texas Tech shortstop Kelby Tomlinson is on the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award. The award is named for a former Texas Tech great.
Tomlinson is batting .313 this season with 33 runs and leads the Red Raiders with 16 multi-hit games. On the defensive side, Tomlinson has committed just one error in the past 22 games.
■ You won't see anything like this in the local Columbia newspapers:
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