Texas Tech Baseball looks to Bounce Back Against Houston Baptist

Let’s be honest, nobody thought we would be sitting here a week ago at 0-3. Nobody thought that Houston Baptist would have more wins than Tech would (1) going into this weekend series. Alas, here we are. The No. 10 Texas Tech Red Raiders will be facing off with the Houston Baptist Huskies beginning tomorrow in Lubbock.

The Huskies are coming off of a 1-2 start against a decent Rice team last weekend in Houston. They won their first game in dramatic fashion notching a run in the 10th inning to get the win. Their other two games were losses, 9-3 on Saturday and 1-0 on Sunday.

Batting:

They are very top-heavy on offense as two players drove in seven of their eleven runs over the weekend. Sebastian Trinidad is a Freshman Shortstop and bats 7th in their lineup. He has done a great job of driving in runs so far as he drove in three in their opening day win over Rice and one the day after. He leads the team with five hits and is second with three RBI.

The other major performer from this weekend is Senior Third Baseman Nathan Soriano. He drove in four over two games and was second on the team with four hits. He hits leadoff and is very good at getting on base.

Junior Right Fielder Brandon Bena is their best overall hitter. In the team’s last full season (2019), Bena led the team in batting average and RBI and was second on the team in hits and total bases. He hits cleanup and will be looking to drive in runs. He didn’t have an amazing weekend, but he did drive in two runs.

Pitching:

Their best pitching performance last weekend came from Junior left-hander Austin Spinney. He threw six innings of shutout baseball against Rice last Monday. He went 1-4 last season and had a 5.56 ERA. Tyler Zarella and Jacob Coats appear to be their other two weekend starters. Each threw five innings and got no-decisions over the weekend.

Texas Tech should honestly outmatch this team in every facet of this game. Both teams are coming off of disappointing weekends so I expect both of these teams to be ready to go come Friday afternoon.

Prediction:

Red Raiders Sweep the Series

This one shouldn’t be close. The Red Raiders, as mentioned before, are far superior in all facets of the game. Coach Tadlock’s team has better hitting, better pitching, and better athletes than Houston Baptist. If the Red Raiders come out and do anything but sweep in dominating fashion, some fans might become worried.